Here’s the concept, call a 1 866 number, tell the automated voice system you want to post to WordPress, and then start talking, clearly. In about two minutes it’ll show up as a post under your author name on your blog with a link for users to listen to your post. It’s that slick. Total setup time is about 15 minutes and there are some things you can do to set it up further. Don’t like texting into twitter all the time? It can update your twitter account too as well as a host of other online utilities.

Here’s a brief tutorial on how to set it up for your WordPress Blog:

- Go to http://www.jott.com and set up an account, it’s free and quick

- Enter in your info and agree to the terms of service

- Verify your email address

- Enter your phone number (you can add more numbers later)

- Call 1 866 JOTT-123 and it will activate your phone with your Jott account and start you on your first jott, to yourself.

- Go to the “Links” page in your Jott account and add WordPress

- Fill out the info for your blog and blog author and hit “Save”

- Now call 1 866 JOTT-123 and say “WordPress” when it asks you “Who do you want toJott?” Then Start your message.

Remember to speak clearly and in a place without a lot of background noise. Jott does a good job of picking out the right words but it’s a good idea to check the posts when you get back in front of the comp.

There's a ton of usage with this web utility and voice posts to WordPress blogs is just the tip of the iceberg. I'd love to hear about how you're using it.

You know you’re not ready to tackle the literary giant right now because you are too busy gloating in your well deserved accomplishments; but you also know as a professional it is imperative to “stay sharp” and find a means to write on a daily basis. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone down to my local drug store, purchased (my favorite) $2 dollar composition books just to spend minute upon minute staring at a blank page.

Like you, I’m stuck in a rut and uncertain how in the world to get out of it. One thing I like to do—for practice especially—is find an object that otherwise might be of little significance to the casual observer and test my ability to create life by answering a few generalized questions.

For example, let’s take the image below. I found it by doing a random search for “old toys” on Google. Looking at it, it means absolutely nothing to me. It was obviously made before my time and I can’t say I have ever seen one. There is no association to my past and therefore no emotional attachment to the image. But as an artist, it is imperative that we look beyond the obvious and delve deep into the realms of our imagination and somehow create life on the canvas of our writing tablet.

When using prompts—which by the way can be anything from an image you stumble upon while surfing the web, an object found along the side of the road, something you see while looking outside your windows from work—it is important to try and apply several concepts to the writing drill. If you do this, you may be surprised to see what you come up with—a short-story, your next novel idea—or even better, a habit of writing!

Create a History
Ask yourself six questions about the object or prompt in use to help create a history. By doing this, you add depth to a potential character, setting or storyline. This is where you learn how to captivate your audience’s attention by giving them the notion [that] your fictional work flows as truly as a non-fiction piece. This is where you ask: Who, What, When, Where, Why & How.

In reference to our image prompt above, ask yourself when you begin to write: Who owned this toy? Who did it belong to? What was it doing (let’s say) in the attic, or a garage sale or the trash? When did it get there? Where did it come from? Why was it tossed out or put away for safe keeping? By asking yourself these types of questions you can begin to create a backdrop and history to your prompt and thereby begin doing what we do best—telling a good story.

Captivate the Senses or Emotions
When you write, try to focus on emotions that are common to most everyday people. What I mean is, if you wrote about love, many people might be able to relate, and just as many might understand the pains associated with losing a loved one—maybe in a break-up or divorce. If I described the taste of a lemon, I wouldn’t have to over-exaggerate on how sour it is—many of us think of the sour cringe in our jaw when we see a lemon, much less read about one. By concentrating on the emotions of everyday life, you thereby allow a broader range of readers to relate to your characters—regardless of whether they are of the same generation, age or even universe!

In reference to the image prompt above, you could say something like this:He (whoever he is) must have owned the toy when he was younger. The neighbors say they would hear him outside on Saturday mornings, mimicking the sounds of a fire truck, wearing the fireman’s hat his father gave him.

In this example above, I briefly hit on a few senses or emotions that might relate to any type of audience. Many of us may have been given something as a child—by either a mother or father—like the boy and his fireman’s hat. Also, many readers might recall their youth, when it was okay to run outside early on Saturday mornings and play, without fear of being bothered. By focusing on emotions or senses that are common to most people, you allow for a broader range of people to relate with your characters or story—maybe just long enough to turn the page…and the next page…and the next page…

Tell a Good Story
There isn’t much I can say about this—that you shouldn’t already know yourself. No matter how creative you are with your literary imagery and no matter how much you identify with your audience, ultimately they are going to wish to partake on a journey. You are eventually—whether you like it or not—going to have to tell a good story. But this shouldn’t worry you one bit! This is where you get to shine. This is where you get to stir your most creative juices up and out for the whole world to view and read and enjoy!

Some of the most powerful stories ever told were some of the most simplistic ideas—those that have been written and re-written time and time again—BUT in a different way each time. We all know the story of the underdog who obtains help from a powerful and mystical mentor, who later helps the underdog grow in their confidence and abilities, only to ultimately defeat their foe, overcome their fears and win the girl, right? Of course you do. If you’ve seen Rocky II, Star Wars, or even the Karate Kid, you have witnessed this classic storyline, told in a different way each time—told in a creative manner by the master storytellers themselves. People like you and me who took the time to tear down the walls of prejudice and bias, fear and doubt and the uncertainty of you (or I) can accomplish.

So get out there (or stay home and surf the web) and find anything to write about and create a history for it, by telling the audience where or who or what it is….associate our past with it, by captivating our senses or triggering our emotions and lastly, tell us a tale that will not soon be forgotten…

…after all…we are the heralds of our time, are we not?

Best of luck to you…and remember…I believe…because you believe.

Unlike a more traditional book signing, where you are limited as to who can attend the event because of busy schedules, location (the cost of fuel doesn’t help) or even time constraints, with Virtual Book Tours the capacity to meet new people and even interact with them on a one-to-one basis is endless. And besides that, with the more traditional book signing, you have the difficulty of persuading an audience to invest their time and money on the work of an “unknown.”  But the VBT has advantages to help you persuade an audience and captivate their intrigue.

With Virtual Book Tours you have the benefit of essentially enticing an audience over several days—as opposed to the short span of a few hours in a crowded bookstore—where (your audience) can be easily distracted by the rows and rows of their (other) favorite authors. With VBTs fans can take their time getting to know you as a person before ever once delving into your creative mind by partaking on your books journey. Here is a quick breakdown of how they work.

VBTs are a great way to promote your work over an extended period of time, to a specific audience looking for something new to read. The best part is, the reader can do this within the comfort of their home and their schedule—NOT yours!

As an example, let’s say you hire a particular PR/book promotion firm to help launch your VBT. What they will do next is try to locate as many blog hosts as possible, all geared towards targeting an audience specifically looking for your genre. So, if they locate 20 blog hosts with a monthly return audience of 5,000 views per month, then you have the potential of reaching 100,000 readers within a one-month span! Now where can you get that in a traditional book signing???

Not only does the VBT run for one month, but the content is updated simultaneously on each site, every day of the tour. So as a further example, let’s say you get 1 comment from half the sites by the end of several days. You will be required to respond to each of them immediately, thereby generating an online conversation with potential fans that (again) are posted on each blog site simultaneously. What this does is (first) encourages reader participation and (secondly) it allows the audience to get to know you as a person—which in the end can be more important than what you ever write! This cannot be done with a traditional book signing.

In the meantime, when you are not answering or responding to reader comments, there are Q&A sessions, podcast interviews and even videos being posted on each of the sites, to further stimulate the curiosity of the audience. If you are pro-active (as you better be if you plan on being successful as a self-released/independent author) you can establish relationships with fans for months and months to come, by simply taking a few moments to respond to readers and focus on giving answers that are meaningful and insightful.

There are several reputable companies available on the WWW to help you find success with your Virtual Book Tour(s). I am going to run a tour with a company called: Pump Up Your Book Promotion quite possibly this May. I will have to follow-up with each of you and let you know how it turns out in early summer. Their best package—the Gold Package—seems to offer a great array of virtual amenities, the best ones being their Press Release (creation and…) distribution, their book trailer creation and of course, the cost. For just about $400 dollars your tour will run on 15~20 blogs helping you connect with more and more potential fans and let’s not forget the high potential for more sales!

I will follow-up on the status of their service and see how much the VBT really helps to boost the sales of my novel: PROUD SOULS.

If you have other book promotional companies you wish to share, post them here on this site via the comments section below. Send the good as well as the bad. That is the best way for all of us to learn and grow as successful authors.

Best of luck to you…and remember…I believe…because you believe!

One of the more common questions I get from aspiring authors is something that sounds like this (Don’t worry—we’re all guilty of it):  I really want (or have always wanted) to write a book, but where or how do I begin?

I try to reassure each inquisitor that (first off) I am not the great and powerful Oz (hey, I like the sound of that) despite our similarities: unlike him, sitting behind the large green curtain turning knobs and spewing out his mighty words of wisdom, I on the other hand hide behind the keyboard, tucked away somewhere on the World Wide Web offering the best advice I can—with the experiences I have collected along the way. Like each of you (or each of the inquisitors) I struggle with the same difficulties each time I hear the stirring within my soul to draft a new story. And I don’t think that will ever truly go away.

Hopefully, it never will because it’s the struggle in the end that makes it all worthwhile. That’s what sets writers apart from any other creative artist. So, what’s the best advice I can give the potential novelist? Simply this: Writers write—sometimes you just have to spend more time writing and spend (a lot) less time talking about, researching or studying the art of writing. Put the rule books away and pickup the pen and write!!!

I know that response isn’t necessarily fair because despite what other writers say when they [say] there’s no magical formula—in the end—there is. What I mean is this. Writing is a creative art-form and therefore (to honor the word art) you must understand there isn’t a strict written formula for how you should go about doing “it.” We are supposed to be the free-thinkers of the world, the ones with the right to think “outside the box” and the creative courage to color outside the lines. You should spend more time being creative and less time trying to find a solution for becoming something you were already born to become!

I know it isn’t easy, because we are raised to believe titles are associated with accomplishments and feats. You are the CEO if the sign on your office door says so. You are the manager of the restaurant if your name tag says so, etc, etc. But those rules don’t apply to us! We are different; we view the world differently than those around us, and without us the world would be bland, plain and dull. Think about it.

The best recommendation I can offer to help you get over that hump or (as much as I hate referencing the phrase) writer’s block, is to simply bypass the rule books and write. I always begin new projects with a clean, crisp composition book—the type that cost around $2 dollars that you can get from the local pharmacy. I find time between projects at work, on lunch breaks (75% of Proud Souls was written on lunch breaks) and let my creative self take control of the paper. I don’t stop to edit, revise or review, I simply write!

I am willing to bet that if you allowed yourself 15 minutes a day, for one week, you would be astonished to discover how many fresh new pages of raw material you could create. Multiply that amount by four weeks or even eight weeks and by-golly you are on a roll! You are on the path to completing a short-story, novella or even a novel length manuscript. I never edit the freehand draft to any stories, I simply write. I can change topics in the middle of paragraphs, add little notes and reminders to myself or even draw a scene from a moment I am living—right while I am in the midst of it! I have that right! I am a fiction writer, just as you are.

To help break up the monotony and remind myself I am a more serious writer, I begin typing what I call the First Draft. I take my notes and begin formulating a story—answering the important questions—Who, What, When, Where and Why. You will learn that if you write freehand during one part of the day (or week) and type that content later in the night (or week) you will begin discovering new concepts and ideals, plots and potential twists and turns for the story—and even better—you will begin discovering more and more about your characters and you can (essentially) watch them grow with each turn of the page.

I took a 4,000 word story and within (and less than) four months drafted a 67,000 word manuscript that would later become an 85,000 word novel: Proud Souls. It took two more years to see that project become a reality, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is [that] you get past the mental roadblocks and bypass the rule books and do what you were born to do—write, think and create.

Answer the questions—who, what, when, where and why—captivate the senses and in the end, tell a good story. I believe that if you set your mind free and allow your more creative side to take control (tell the editor in you to take a nap or something), in the end you will be impressed and one day hide behind your keyboard like the great and powerful Oz and answer the question: Where do I begin?

Best of luck to you this year…and remember…I believe, because you believe!

After spending some time contacting marketing agents for various reader and writing magazines and realizing I am not yet ready to invest money in quantities of four-digit numbers, I received an email from the marketing staff of WritersCafe.org telling me about their new program designed specifically for writers looking to compete and market their work but at costs much less than traditional online marketing.

The program is called the “WritersCafe.org Ad Network” and you simply have to have an account with WritersCafe.org which is a free online writing forum, similar to others like Gather.com where you can post your work and share it with individuals and groups. You can rate work from other friend connections and request reviews of finished writings or works-in-progress.

The program is relatively simple; though I am not yet sure how effective it is. WritersCafe.org mentions in their online ad [that] the Ad Network is specifically designed to do the following:
ï‚·  Promote your WritersCafe Writing, Contests, & Groups
ï‚·  Advertise external, writing related websites
ï‚·  Design your own ads & choose where they appear
ï‚·  Set your own pricing and daily budget
ï‚·  Track your ads with in-depth stats
ï‚·  Get Started for as little as $2.50 a day

After reading the last bullet point—“Get started for as little as $2.50 a day”—I thought it was worth the shot. The setup is painless and (honestly) took me less than 5 minutes to process one online ad. You can choose between a campaign to promote your present WritersCafe.org profile or any pre-existing website you own or operate. I chose to promote the URL link for my book: Proud Souls, via the Amazon.com storefront. Next, you choose an image to represent your ad and then you choose where you would like to run your advertisement, whether it’s in a Banner (along the top of the site’s page), a Tower (vertically along one side of the site) or in a Notice Board (a bulletin type posting within the site). You can choose one option or up to all three choices.

Next you choose a title (with limited character spacing) and write a brief ad description. This is the actual text that will be available to viewers and prospective buyers. Next you choose an image to upload and you are done. It was that simple. Now how much your ad gets run depends upon how much (daily) money you are willing to spend. I chose $5.00—double the expected minimum—per day and set a budget of $15 dollars. This meant I would be able to run my ad for 3 consecutive days (or whichever times I specified). Once I paid the cost via my PayPal account, WritersCafe.org did the rest. Within a few moments my ad was running on various pages within the WritersCafe.org website and I was able to view my stats in real time. Within a five-day period my ad peaked at 5,000 impressions per day and I was able to generate 22, 25 and 12 clicks from various viewers within the online forum in three consecutive days.

Naturally, like any real advertising campaign you never truly know how effective the advertisement was until you first, run the ad for an extended period, secondly, prove the advertisement is generating actual sales and lastly, ensure the overall cost of advertisement helps you at least break even or gain a positive return-on-investment. The return on advertisement dollars is hard to measure, unless you have some form of matrix in place for calculating and validating actual sales generated by a particular ad. For the rest of us who can’t say that—we have to hope [that] in time our efforts to promote our work and essentially get our book covers and titles in the readers faces, will in turn heighten the curiosity enough that someone might stumble upon our work and give us a chance.

I plan on investing in the program for one legitimate month—30 full days—to see if it at least peaks someone’s curiosity that may not have heard about my book from my big mouth. When you consider the cost at $2.50 per day, for 30 days, it’s only a $75 investment. Double that amount and you are looking at a huge (potential) readership for less than $200 dollars a month. Now that’s not too bad. I say it’s worth a shot.

Best of luck to you! And remember, I believe because you believe.

Like most products sold, the bar-coded system helps uniquely identify the product’s cost, and with books, it identifies the publisher—you. You don’t wan to spend the time producing the highest quality book available to your present means, only to discover later that the local Barnes & Noble won’t stock it within their warehousing system because it is owned by someone other than “your” publishing company. If they have to deal with a third-party, they won’t deal with them at all.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO CONSIDER:
Most bookstores will not feature or sale any book that is not first listed within their warehouse database. To get there, your book must have a unique ISBN identifying you as the publisher. There are hundreds of websites on the market advertising single ISBN sales, but to truly ensure you are the sole owner of the ISBN associated with your book, you must purchase directly via the US ISBN Agency. They sale their ISBN numbers in blocks as little as 10 and up to 1000. The cost for a minimum of 10 ISBNs is $275 USD.

What does ISBN stand for?
ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number and they are [now] 13-digit numbers that help uniquely identify a book and its publisher. At one time they are 10-digits and with the influx of small presses and independently published authors—that and the increase in new titles released every year—the need for more numbers has been implemented. Each 13-digit ISBN has a 10-digit number assigned to it automatically.

How do I go about obtaining an ISBN number for my title?
Navigate to the official US ISBN Agency website or follow my link to view a printable copy of the form here. Please note however, there is a charge of $50 USD for processing a manual application. You can opt to use the electronic format (where there is no charge for processing) by navigating here.

Please be aware that either the manual or electronic format for ordering ISBN numbers is for FIRST TIME publishers. If you have already ordered and have an ISBN assigned to your title and publishing house, you will need to contact the ISBN agency here for help with purchasing additional ISBN numbers.

Now that I have an ISBN number(s) assigned, how do I get the barcode?
Once you have your ISBN number(s) assigned, you will need to obtain a barcode from BowkerLink. You can navigate to their website to complete the process of ordering the appropriate barcodes. You will need all pertinent information related to your publishing house (business name).

Okay, I ordered the ISBN number(s) and ordered my barcode(s), am I done?
You will want to ensure your book is listed in the Books-in-Print database and to do this, you will need to register your ISBN number with Bowker. Books-n-Print is THE bibliographic database store used by libraries, bookstores and booksellers and lastly publishers like you.

Remember, you can use any forum you choose to create your first novel, but you want to think long-term with regards to your publishing ventures. And to ensure your book will be available to as many people, organizations and sellers as possible, you will want to go through with the appropriate steps that make you a true, legitimate (small) independent publisher.

Good luck to you…and remember…I believe…because you believe!

Believe that or not. Quite simply, it’s hard sometimes to come up with something new, something trendy and something that will help set you apart. Sometimes you just have to get down to the basics of simple networking and introduce yourself and your book to a stranger and talk…just like you once did when you dreamed of getting where you are today.

It’s hard because there is only so much you can do with your time and money to help advance the life of your book. And if you are like me, funds are limited and you have to research thoroughly before investing your money to help market and promote your work properly. Over the course of this column I will offer more helpful tidbits of information to help you cut the appropriate corners and follow-through when necessary but this week I wanted to focus on something that might help relieve the tension of any real financial burden and in the end, allow you to simply be yourself—and still promote yourself and your book.

Depending upon who you chose to use as the “printer” or “manufacturer” of your book there should be (or better be) a discounted price for the author. The particular company I opted to create my finished product allows me to purchase author/publisher copies of my book at an excellent discounted rate. And if you weigh out the cost of purchasing your own copies in comparison to what you might pay for some first-rate marketing or advertisement space on the Internet or elsewhere, it is in your favor to consider this option: Give one copy away every week to someone you don’t know and who doesn’t know you and introduce yourself as an up-and-coming author who is trying to connect with readers. I promise you this much: it’s a marketing tip that really cannot fail you. And if you consider the gamble you take with paying for advertisement, that’s a great return-on-investment!

I told myself [that] I would keep a viable stock of copies of Proud Souls at my side and every week I would find one person I have never met and introduce myself as the author of the title. I usually start with something like this: “Hello, my name is Bobby Ozuna and I’m a writer. I am curious to know if you like reading.” People almost always say yes. Next I hand them over the copy of my book and ask them if they would be interested in reading it—with no strings attached.

At this point I am not trying to be a salesman but an advocate for my art, allowing my inner personal passion to come forth—the same passion I have when talking about my favorite authors, movies or to be honest (without being vain) my writing. Usually at that point the door has been opened for conversation and the questions begin to flow, questions or comments like: How did you do it? I’ve always wanted to write. I’ve never met an author before!

Use this opportunity as a chance to allow a stranger inside and talk with them. Let them know the real you. Chances are they are going to go home and tell someone (because people LOVE telling others about that important someone they met) and go a step further and sign the book for them! Ask them their name and ask them to write you when their done or even better (hint, hint) post their thoughts on Amazon.com for the entire world to read! You never know who that particular person might be—maybe a moderator for a small book club in your neighborhood, or a professor in a university looking for a new book for their future courses or maybe a columnist who is always on the lookout for the next-best-thing.

I know you may be thinking, if I give the book away, that’s a sale I have just lost! But that’s not necessarily true. Networking shouldn’t be about selling books so much as it should be about selling yourself as an individual. In the end, there are tons of great book to compete with in the marketplace but how many great people are there willing to listen to the readers of the world who are actually buying the books? You have to ask yourself this: Would they have known me well enough to buy my book before I introduced myself?

Also ask: Could I walk up to a complete stranger and ask them to buy my book just because I asked? Weigh out the cost of a book-per-week and multiply that by 52 weeks and I promise you, the investment will be worth your time. You will be able to say you met (a minimum of) 52 new friends, people who didn’t know you before, and if your book is good, I can assure you they will tell a friend or more about how they met the author of this great and wonderful book and even had it signed to them personally! Being successful in your own backyard is the first step towards gaining exposure outside your comfort zone!

I hope this helps. Get out there and make new friends, share your art with the world and I promise, the world will share its love and appreciation for you in return…it’s only a matter of when, not if.

Remember, I believe…because you believe!

I have heard that more than 100,000 new fiction titles are released each year and if you weigh out the fact that most of (us) the self-released authors don’t have a substantial financial bankroll to cover the cost of general marketing and advertising, we may only have one real opportunity in the end to prove our worth to a potential audience, no matter how much we believe in the product or many friends (we) you have.

I was asked once during the course (2 years) of preparing Proud Souls for “release” to the wild which stage I felt was more important than the other—proofing the document or editing it. Now, I would be a liar if I didn’t come right out and say [that] editing is THE most important stage if I had to choose between the two. And for all my editorial friends out there—kudos to you and your work!!!

There are things, believe it or not, an editor can help with that regardless of how keen your eyes may be for finding errors, we simply can’t see no matter how hard we try. In my own experiences I found that the more you read (and re-read) your manuscript pages the more likely you will overlook simple errors, those a good spell-checker won’t find. Like these one right here. Spell checker (grammar check) didn’t find or notify me with the handsome squiggly line that I misused the word “these” for “this” and in our minds, no matter how many times we read it, we simply can’t see it—or at least not all of them. That’s what is meant by the term—can’t see the forest for the trees. This happens because the more you read the same pages of your own manuscript, the more your mind begins to fill in the pages or complete the sentences because (whether you notice or not) you are completing the sentences from memory. That is the dangerous and normal part of reading your own work over and over again. That is where a good editor comes into play. They read your work without any historical or emotional association; they simply read the words you typed, unlike us, who read the words we created and conjured from within our imagination.

Now just because you didn’t hire-in with a large publishing firm doesn’t mean you can’t get the same high-quality editorial service as the traditionally published author. There are countless editors for hire posted in the WWW and magazines such as Writer’s Digest. You just have to look for them and like any product or service provider, ask them to sample or site their work. This will validate their credibility and ease the pain of justifying the cost of their work. I couldn’t be an editor for the simple fact that no matter how savvy I think I am grammatically, I am a writer and reader who finds more pleasure in dissecting the story rather than correcting spelling or grammatical mistakes. Understand this however, editors don’t just correct spelling errors, they do more than this; some help with story flow, point-of-view and story structure—again it just depends on the editor and what they specialize in.

For me however I have come to appreciate the art of proof-reading a document more than “editing” it. Proofing is best described as skimming a document and depending upon the seriousness of the reader, they can help find countless mistakes to help formulate a well-polished document ready to submit to a potential editor for finalization.

Proofing can actually be the “fun” part of preparing and finalizing your manuscript. You get to know more about the story and characters during this stage. It was both a daunting and enlightening phase for me and my book, Proud Souls. I would recommend finding a team of proofers, people who can help isolate major and minor mistakes to help you and your story get where they are going and unlike an edit, which is usually performed when the manuscript is “completed”, a good proof can happen anytime during the creation of your story.  Below is a quick example of how I came to prepare Proud Souls for final edit.

Find friends with identical or similar interest

I found a team of 6 readers, each of whom had different taste in literature but in the end all enjoyed my work. This was important because if they were going to get through the reading of all 300+ pages—especially if the story wasn’t their cup of tea—there had to be common ground to help maintain their focus. That common ground was their bond to me as a friend.

Isolate their focus for finding mistakes

This too was very important, as most of them wanted to share their thoughts on story-flow, story structure, characterization, etc, but I couldn’t take the feedback from more than one person on the same topic because that would have opened the door for opinion and (quite possibly) may have changed my mind on how I wished to write my story. What I did instead was ask one of them to tell me whether they could “see” the story. I asked another to focus on the emotions [feel] of the characters; a third was asked to determine whether they could identify with the protagonist and supporting characters, etc. Only a couple of them were asked to find the spelling and grammatical mistakes to help the story flow. Each person was given a simple task which helped them maintain focus on proofing the story. I took their feedback over the course of my own personal re-write and used that information to help formulate the finished product. I learned a lot more about my characters this way, as each person during the course of our edits began to learn more about the characters as individuals and asked me to help clarify who they were.

The concept was simple and yet very complex. Of the five people (the sixth one being my wife), I can guess that maybe one or two would be interested in proofing my second novel, as the process can be emotionally trying on the soul. It’s hard asking someone to read and re-read the same pages over and over until you get it right. In the end, I was extremely pleased (as are the fans I am acquiring for my story) and to thank each of them, I sited their names on the Acknowledgement page of my book as an eternal thank-you for their help.

In the end I found an editor for my work, a man of great insight and thought—Mr. Kenneth Polito of Fort Worth, Texas. Let’s just say this: When the book was “done” for the ump-teenth time…he found close to 200+ mistakes I had to correct before the book went live on the Amazon.com storefront. Now I know why so many writers go mad!!!

So get out there and ask those people closest to you if they want to be a part of something great and something magical—because in the end—it is. It’s not just the book; it’s more than that. It’s a figment of your imagination brought to life on paper and born by the sweat and determination of the childlike faith we all carry inside us. If Proud Souls never sales another copy, it doesn’t really matter. Justin Olerude Bower, Reverend Hillard Ray Polk, Ralph Winslow Parison and the lovely Tessa Jameson are alive today because of the willingness of myself, and countless others who wouldn’t dare have them hiding on a shelf somewhere collecting dust on pages that would never be read.

As I say every week—best of luck to you and your (self) publishing this year!

I believe…because you believe…

Remember, in order for an independently published author to make their mark in the vast hoard of literary potentials, it is critical that we work to promote our work in any fashion possible and contest are a major way of getting your work “out there” and read by people that 1.) Don’t know you and 2.) Have the means of making your work more readily available to a large audience. Winners and runners-up in most major book contest are publicized in a multitude of fashions including national media exposure. If you wish to set your work apart from other self-published authors, one way of accomplishing that goal is to have your book labeled and stamped with a notification of excellence or better yet—Winner of the Beach Book Festival!

The 2008 Beach Book Festival held annually in Atlantic Beach, NJ has officially posted its call-for-entries where they will “spotlight the hottest reads of the upcoming summer season.” One grand-prize winner will earn themselves $1500 dollars in cold-hard cash, a flight to Atlantic City and a publicity campaign from a leading PR firm. There are 15 categories to enter this year and the contest is open to all self-published and independently published authors. The deadline for submission is April 25th, 2008.

The 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards has officially posted their call-for-entries. The contest is open to any print or eBook with a 2007/2008 copyright. There are 70 categories to choose from with trophies, cash, medals and certificates going out to more than 80 authors! The deadline for this contest is March 21st of this year with finalists and winners being notified by May 15th of 2008.

I can assure you Proud Souls will be judged in both these contests including the list I provided earlier in January. I know the contests can be costly over time and if you are like me, sometimes easy to overlook considering the natural urge to doubt ourselves; but, as an independently published author we don’t have the luxury of doubt. Remember, as I cannot say this enough: If we don’t act as though we believe in our work beyond any reason of doubt and with every ounce of our existence, how can we persuade the masses to take a chance on our dreams?

Best of luck to you this year…and remember…I believe…because you believe!

Collaborate ideas with other self-published authors
One of the things I did early on is find others who were working to promote their work in the same manner as myself. I asked them what was working for them and shared some things that worked for me. I promoted them on an Author Links page on my website. Many did the same for me. In time you begin working to establish a relationship and possibly even collaborate on projects that in the end will only help gather a fan base for both of you. I have met many people from various parts of the country that have become friends to share in personal accomplishments that began as simple collaborated efforts to promote my own work.

Join writing groups and online writing communities
In building on your efforts when collaborating with other writers, writing groups and online writing communities are an excellent place to begin. When I started sharing my writing I could not afford a website and because I didn’t have a novel to promote, I didn’t feel the cost and time associated with maintaining a website was justified. I did join a few communities right about the time my novel was coming to a close and I have used those contacts to help establish relationships and build a potential audience for my work. Here are a few to consider and they are free.•    Gather.com•    WritersCafe.org•    MySpace.com

Contact local organizations   
I have always said, if you are going to be successful, you must first learn to be successful in your own backyard. Yes, in the end we all want to be noticed, recognized and honored in cities like Los Angeles and New York but what good is it if you can’t conquer the streets of your own city? There possibilities for promotion in your own hometown are endless! There are libraries, city community centers, schools and local papers you can contact to begin the stages to establishing a following. One of the things I did early on is contact teachers from my former ISD—the Fort Worth Independent School District—and I offered my time (freely) to speak to students about tapping into their artistic side. I contacted local writing groups to share my experiences and book clubs to share my work. There are independent journalists who write articles for your city paper and even the organizations you have joined in the past. And being that you are local, you will be surprised how excited people will be to help contribute to your successes if you take a moment to introduce yourself and share your project (and complimentary copy of your book).

Offer classes to help others
This can be done online or in person. One of the things I did was contact my local community center to offer my own “I-Not-Author” creative writing course, to help inspire others to write. Being I am so passionate about writing and also the fact that I have released a title to the mass-market, it is easy to forget how timid I was years ago and how worried I was that I couldn’t make it. This class is my opportunity to share some insightful information into the methodical process I undergo to create my characters and storylines to (as I say), draw my stories with words. Giving back what is yours is the number one way to reap the harvest of giving in your favor. Speaking and sharing with others in person validates your expertise and helps build the confidence you will need as your career as a writer takes off.

Make a commitment to promote, collaborate and network on a daily basis
This has to be the most critical (and mentally exhausting) aspect of successful self-publication. I made a commitment to my work to promote, publish, network and collaborate my novel at all costs on a daily basis. With work and kids and coaching baseball, you can only imagine how hard it is to justify this personal goal. But in the end, it has been worth it. In only 2 months on the Amazon.com storefront Proud Souls has sold in 16 states and is being reviewed presently by as many as 10 organizations or individuals in the US and the UK, with requests from professional reviews in Croatia, Greece and Canada. None of these things would have come into play if I had not worked daily to connect with others online using simple tools of networking. If I can do it, you can do it. It will take time and commitment but again, if you don’t believe in your work more than anyone else, how can you expect others to take a chance with you?

Best of luck to you this year! Remember, I believe…because you believe.

One of the things many writers do when working to promote their present project is discuss the topic of that project with as many people as possible. Remember, unless you have a substantial amount of available income, you will be working on a limited budget, trying to at the very least break even. In most cases, in the beginning (first year at least) you won’t. This is the trade-off for pursuing your dream. Being this is tax season it is apparent how much you actually spend towards promotional work in comparison to actual dollars made as a profit. But remember, you made this choice to self-release (hopefully) in spite of any riches but instead to see your dream become a reality.

As a recap, I mentioned some Pre-Publication concepts that must be considered and put into action when attempting to self-release your own title, things such as creating a business name, opening a business checking/savings account, etc. The last step I mentioned—Begin or revamp your blog—actually flows into this Post-Publication plan. This portion of your self-publication process is the part that will continue on for the duration of your project. This is the marketing, research, follow-up, networking and promotional aspect of being a writer. Some might say this is the actual process of being a writer. Many times people outside our little world view the promotional aspect of being a writer as the actual writing part. Naturally Hollywood plays a big part in creating this perspective and opinion of our career choice. But that isn’t true. Getting to this phase is as big an accomplishment as the day you typed The End on your manuscript. But the work isn’t over. You will need to break down the barriers and walls that accompany the fear of speaking to others as willingly and as confidently as you did when you ignored the voices that said you can’t do this—and finished your book.

They say more people are scared to speak in front of a group of strangers than they are of anything else in the world. As a self-released author you will not have the convenience of hiding being that statement. You will have to find it within yourself to break the bonds of fear and learn each day, as you did when you wrote your novel, to overcome those mounds of adversity if you ever wish to see your dream become a reality. Here is a quick list of steps you can take once your novel is completed and ready for the mass market of readers.

Post-Publication Plan:

Post weekly updates to your blog

Continuing with what you started in the Pre-Publication Phase now is the time to stop rambling and start targeting. Try to post an update to your progress on a weekly basis, sharing personal conquests and tips to help others. I have always been an advocate for giving back what is yours. If you have a gift to write, research, network, then share that information with anyone you can. Don’t get caught up in the concept that if I help others they will surpass me. This is not a competition but collaboration. We are all artist trying to find our place in this literary world and in order to truly be successful you should help someone else and in turn others will help you. That has been the nature of my success thus far.

Submit review copies to professional readers          

Being a self-published author it is sometimes hard to get national media exposure in the beginning. Remember, they are busy utilizing their contacts with major publishing houses to guarantee a readership and return. This is not to say you can’t but you may wish to start smaller (for lack of a better word) in the beginning to help jump-start an interest in your book. One of the things I have done is contact people who post ritual blogs and articles based on book reviews. A simple query will go a long way, that plus a complimentary signed copy of your book. Pitch them, ask them if they are interested and tell them how important their review is to you. Once they agree, mail them a copy immediately with a thank-you letter asking them (politely) to share their thoughts with their readership and possibly post that review on Amazon.com or whichever online storefront you will utilize to publicize your book.

Check back next Thursday for 5 more tips on marketing your self-published book. 

Step 1: Determine a DBA (Business Name) & publishing company name

DBA stands for “doing business as” and you will need to create a DBA—if you plan on operating your publishing business apart from using your own name. Having the DBA will also help simplify critical banking transactions, especially when you are working to separate what money is actually used for the sake of your publishing business and what money is for your “regular” lifestyle. Try to pick a business name to coincide with your publishing company. In my case, I opted to use my last name for my publishing company: Ozuna Publications.

It is at this moment you may need to consider operating your business as a sole-proprietor or incorporating as an LLC. This step is crucial because if you plan on taking on small business loans you will need to prepare (or get help preparing) a business plan to apply for the necessary funding for this project.

Step 2: Open a business checking & savings account and apply for a Tax ID#

Now that you have a valid DBA, you can open a business checking and savings account with your local bank and from there you can apply for a Tax ID (EIN#), something you will need considering you will be selling an item that falls under taxing categories obligated and required to pay back to your State (depending on where you reside) your county and even your city. You will need a Tax ID when working with various vendors, such as print presses and distributors and more so you will need a means to record and audit your own tax transactions for the IRS.

Step 3: Register a domain name on the WWW

What domain name you use is entirely up to you, although you may wish to consider something along the same (identical) lines as your new business name or something that will allow people to isolate you during an Internet search. I could have chosen a domain name that was targeted towards my book title or business name but instead I went with: BobbyOzunaOnline.com. I knew there were not many authors with the last name Ozuna, so during random searches via Google or Yahoo, I wouldn’t be hard to find. Think of something catchy and unique and go with it! You can use many of the various service providers who include domain name registration as part of their hosting package. I went with NoMonthlyFees.com. For just about $100 bucks I was registered and hosted for one year with more than enough web storage to house my literary content. If you choose, you can go to Network Solutions and search for available domain names and register the one you want for yourself and from there find a viable hosting company. If you aren’t ready to proceed, you can use the Park feature to reserve your domain name. Parking allows you to reserve a name and prevents the name from being purchased by others until you are ready to proceed.

Step 4: Build your Author website

There are hundreds of posts on the Internet advertising free web-site builders and tools. What you choose to create your website depends on various factors.

1.    Money—how much can you afford at this time? Remember, like a book project, you begin with what you have and revamp and rebuild later!!!

2.    Time—how much of your free time are you prepared to allot to building and maintaining a website?

3.    Ability—if you can do it yourself, I would recommend it. If you can’t, then you need to consider hiring an expert.The most important thing in the beginning is establishing a web-presence! If you can’t afford something extravagant right now, then don’t worry about it. Build a basic (free) site and start using it to promote your upcoming project. You can use a free website to coincide with your Blog. If you have the means to properly afford a more robust website, start researching web-developers in your area. I was fortunate in that 1) I know enough to maintain my own website and 2) I had a business partner willing to invest his time to help see my own dreams become a reality.

*FRIENDLY TIP* If you are local to the Dallas/Ft.Worth area, you may try contacting Jeff Sneed with OCR and make sure you reference this article to discuss discounted rates on professional web content!!!

Step 5: Consider your cover art design

As with each step of the publication process, you want to try to conform where necessary and think outside the box everywhere else. Remember, we are artists and you want your work (book content and cover image) to be unique. You want something that will juxtapose the theme and message of your book and you want to do it in a manner that will truly set you apart. You can contact artist via the multitude of websites where people post and share their work and it can range from painters to photographers. Pitch them with a professional query the details of your project. You may be surprised at the number of people who actually want to promote their own work and a book cover is one way to do it! One website you can use to try and begin researching potential artists is: The Talent Database.

Step 6: Locate a print and distribution company

This was the step where I spent a large amount of time collaborating, researching and biting my nails before finally making a decision. I tried local print shops but as you will learn unless you have the financial means, you may end up investing anywhere from $4000~$5000 up front for relatively small print runs that you may not break even with after selling and distributing the first run. The cost to produce such low print runs isn’t financially feasible for most print shops. This is the part that makes or breaks many self-published authors.

If you want to truly own the full rights to your book as a small press, you may want to avoid the vanity presses. These companies will help you “self-publish” your title but in the end, they are often viewed as third-parties to bookstores and because of that, it makes it harder to get your book in traditional brick-and-mortar bookstores. I am not implying you can’t do it, but again, I wrote this article to help you make the decision that works best for you.

Lightning Source is a major book publisher in that they bind and create the books for a multitude of vanity or subsidy publishing companies including many of the country’s university presses. This is the company I would recommend because the initial costs are low—I believe they have a content, graphic and one-time catalog fee which falls less than $150 dollars. They register your book and publishing company with Ingram to allow ease of distribution to almost every US bookstore. Also they work directly with Amazon to ensure your book is listed and available for (almost) immediate sale on the world’s largest online retailer’s storefront.

Remember, they will publish and produce the content you have ready for distribution. If you are doing the cover design (graphical design) work yourself, you may find yourself going through a series of “failure to accept” notifications if your cover image isn’t print ready. So again, there is more homework in your future unless you hire a graphical designer to help with the graphical design of your book cover image.

Step 7: Determine your book release date

This is also a very critical decision for your book project. First, you want to ensure you are working to establish some credibility—maybe with groups of readers targeted as potential sales. You also want to ensure you have done your research (I can’t say that enough) and began working towards gathering pre-publication reviews for your book.

Remember, I put this list together as a general basis for points to consider when venturing towards self-publication. I could write a book with all the information I have come up with the past two years of implementation but that’s not the point of these articles. This is one of those items I failed to do. Had I done a better job of projecting a release date, I might have gathered more reviews before the publication date and also gathered more momentum right from the start.

If this window of opportunity has already passed, don’t fret. You can collect as many reviews as you want after the book is available to the public. Here is a list of companies you can target for pre-publication reviews. But remember, some of them require a copy (or galley) 3~6 months before the actual release date.

a.    Booklist
b.    Library Journal
c.    Publishers Weekly
d.    Kirkus Reviews

Step 8: Begin (or revamp) your blog

This particular piece actually flows into the second segment of this article (which will continue next week) where we discuss some concepts for Post-Publication, including your long-term marketing strategy and tips. If you are a writer wishing to get recognized, a blog has become a must in the past few years due to the sudden surge of readers wishing to personally connect with their favorite author. You can use some of the blogging sites referenced below and which one you choose depends upon your own personal taste.

Remember, the key to blogging is connecting with an audience to promote your expertise, your genre and build a fan base. I always tell people I blog to share something insightful, something inspirational, something motivational and always something about how I am performing as an artist.

Try including reader questions and offer feedback to reader inquiries. This will help encourage reader participation. Give thanks where it is due and help recognize those who have helped you along the way and you will be surprised how many doors will open.

a.    Blogger
b.    WordPress
c.    TypePad

I truly hope this particular information was useful as I can say, there are many more details and concepts that can and must be covered, but it would take an entire book to fill the pages with that much detailed information. I know at times it seems long winded…but hey, I’m a writer.

Best of luck to you this year and remember, I believe…because you believe. 

Remember, self-publication is one of many means to release your work into the wild world of literary arts. There was a time when many would say [that] should you choose to release your own title you are thereby hindering your ability to become a traditionally published author. I think that argument is slowly losing its validity as even the more reputable publishing houses are realizing that if they only sit back and let the sharks fight for the scraps of the dying carcass, in the end they can potentially find a true hunter.

Remember, the publishing world is still a business and despite their love of books or readers or all things literary, the end result in any business is to effectively produce a marketable product and make money. So if you take on this project with a business attitude of selling your product whole-heartedly and marketing it in the same fashion as the major publishing houses, in the end you could be sitting back telling your story of how you began with an idea…that stemmed into a story…which ventured into a business plan to become your own marketing agent, salesperson, publicist and lastly—author.

That last bit and order might seem confusing, being that we are authors before publishers, right? Well, yes and no. We are authors who have to learn to tear down the reclusive habits of our literary ancestors if we wish to be effective independent publishers. If you are an introvert, the process may be difficult. If you are outspoken, easy-going and hungry to meet more people and speak boldly about your project, then you are already ahead of your peers.

If you have reached the point where you are ready to try releasing your own title, then I hope by now you have at least completed your manuscript. It will be hard if not impossible to do anything with a title if you haven’t at least prepared a book-ready manuscript for potential print and release. The same is true for traditional publishing. An agent will not proceed to work with you until you have what they refer to as the “book ready” manuscript; your book will need to be as polished and as perfect as possible. So without further ado, let’s proceed.

Looking back over the course of my two-year venture towards independently publishing my title Proud Souls, I can say that step number one would be to draw out a business plan towards publication, beginning with a Pre-Release Plan followed by a Post-Publication Plan. The second phase is where you are actually doing the long-term publishing work—the long-term marketing and promotional aspect of selling and promoting your book.

For the next few weeks, I will focus on the Pre-Publication Plan. Remember, there are more steps critical to becoming successful. I will outline a few concepts I felt were important and critical in my early success and steps I (wish) I had not avoided early on.

To be continued… 

We have to learn to wear many hats. And not only do we have to become our biggest advocate but we have to do it right—almost the very moment we begin. And all the salesmanship, and marketing letters, publicity articles and blog posts have to happen almost simultaneously as the number one rule in sales is perception. Give the audience the perception that the item being presented before them is exactly what they want and exactly what they were looking for in exactly the right price range—and you got them. And it’s not easy.

I remember back a couple of years ago, when I was first began shopping and pitching Proud Souls to literary agencies and doing all I could to make sure my letters were written correctly—on the right type of paper with the right format and the right heading and the appropriate salutation, all in hopes that some intern or administrative assistant would stumble upon my query and give me a chance. If it isn’t hard enough to throw yourselves to the wolves and tell the world you’re a writer, it’s harder still when others tell you no, without even giving you a chance—without even reading the query that took you days to put together.

It’s the gamble we all take and in the end—it’s worth it—or we would never dare try. Instead, we’d write our stories and laugh amongst ourselves and cringe each time someone tried to look over our shoulders in an effort to invade our private little worlds we created for ourselves. We do it out of necessity, not want. We do it because it is in us to do it. And we do it because all that we are will collapse the moment we turn from that truth. We are writers and the suffering we endure is the Bain of our existence.

If I had to answer one of the most common questions posed by fans of my writing it would be this: when did you know it was time to self-publish? I believe in time this question will become synonymous with “hello” as it has become the trademark introduction many people use after they learn I released my first novel under my own imprint: Ozuna Publications. And as many times as I respond to this inquiry the question still strikes me as odd and I fumble with my response like a little boy who is still very insecure with himself.

Oftentimes I smile or laugh or hide my eyes in a bashful attempt at being sincere and essentially try to say the following: It was when I knew without any instance of doubt that I was born to write and it was when I finally reached the point of unwavering belief in my own abilities. And if I had to offer any advice for the would-be independently published author it would be this. Before you venture on this trying journey I would recommend you find some time alone and consider the reasons why you wish to publish and why you write. As yourself these questions: Do I write because I want my name in lights? Do I aspire to be an author because I dream of riches? Do I write because I want the fame that seems to follow the list of best-selling authors? Or do you write because the inner voice of your creativity yearns to be born on paper?

I can say this much for my journey and my decision to release my own title. The road has not been easy but I wouldn’t undo the decision I made over a year ago—at least not yet. I have met many more interesting people, all traveling on this same road as myself, because I chose the path of self-publication. I put a good book together and slowly as with anything worth having, more and more people will come to this same realization.

The reviews are coming in and my work is making its mark on Amazon.com and each day I find myself spending more and more hours connecting and collaborating with others, asking and sometimes (yes) even pleading for a consideration of a review of my work. But that is just part of the game. Either I or a salesperson will pitch my work to a bookstore; either I or a marketing agent will create and push my press release. Either I or a publicist will generate the online hype required to interest a potential fan base.

You will need to do a lot of homework and over the course of this blog I will share insights into the process for what I feel is successful (self) publication. But for those of you still riding the fences, unsure of how long you should hold out for that big contract deal with a major publishing house, I would suggest the following: Know why you write; know what you wish to obtain by becoming a writer and lastly, I would learn to appreciate the fact that as a writer, you are different and because of your creative temperament, you are not one to conform to standards because it goes against your very nature.

If you are a patient person who has gathered enough positive feedback from multiple (hundreds if possible) sources about your current project, then I would suggest you wait and continue with pursuing the path of traditional publishing. But do this knowing that unless you have written the next great American novel, you will have to do as much work, though on a seemingly different plane, as the self-published author.

I know of traditionally published authors whose work found representation with a reputable publishing house, but was still held accountable for generating x-amount of sales prior to receiving any publishing royalties; hence they were in a sense held responsible for performing the same duties as the rest of us in order to help guarantee their publishing house would offer more services in their favor. But if you are like me and you love meeting new people, discussing your project with groups, and taking control of your own literary destiny, then self-publication is a wonderful yet challenging experience, one that might enrich your life more than the sheer pleasure you get from completing your novel and saying, “I am published.”

Picture yourself if you can, many days or months or even years down the road and ask yourself: If two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by…would that have made all the difference.

I believe…because you believe…

The cover design to a book can sometimes be as important as the very content that falls between Once Upon a Time and The End. You know as well as I that many times when you are out shopping for a book but aren’t sure what you want but still very aware that you want something new, something catchy and something moving—oftentimes we browse the aisles until we see something jump out and catch our attention. I do it all the time. I know I am all caught up with my previous stack of books but yet, something inside me yearns for something new, something different; it’s like my soul is seeking out another world to meet characters I don’t quite understand in places I haven’t seen and the one thing I am relying on to suck me in and take me there is the cover of the book.

So what do I do? I walk—the aisles not the lines—until I see something I want to touch, something worth pulling off the shelf and something worth opening. It’s true; it’s not fair to the authors who labored and sweat to create a story simply to be passed or accepted based on the work of someone else, but that’s the way it is. And being self-published, oftentimes we don’t have the luxury of sifting through cover proposals from potential artists (or graphic artists). We pay a photographer for the rights to their work, in hopes that we are one of few who also obtained the rights or we beg a friend or family member—the one more savvy with a digital camera than we are—to take that special picture and upload it (of course) in a high-resolution format. If we fall short on those first few attempts we end up trying to conjure up a design of our own and when the work is done the only thing apparent is that we did indeed self-publish our own title.

So what are we to do? Get back to the basics of human communication and network, collaborate and finally—ask for help. I did and it worked.

The cover artist to my self-released title, Proud Souls, is a wonderful artist by the name of Maria Sanchez of SandiaFria.com. I went into my project with a pretty sound understanding of what I wanted to see on the cover to my book, but I had no clue as to how I would get there. I did the standard search for images on the web—the pay sites—the ones that could (almost) guarantee I would have exclusive rights to the image and wouldn’t have to worry about stumbling across another book or magazine with that same image in the future. I found a few images similar to my own but still I couldn’t get past the idea of having an image that wasn’t unique. See, as independently published authors we MUST approach every detail to our book projects with the attitude that we are unique in our efforts, despite being “just another self-released artist.” After about a week of researching countless pictures on the Internet, I stumbled across a series of images within the SandiaFria.com website right about the time I was ready to throw my hands in the air and quit.

I was working with a friend at the time on web-content and I was in the midst of pleading with him to help design the cover, once the final image was selected. I took a chance and used the contact option on Maria’s website and queried her in the same professional manner as I have every potential associate or collaborator for my book project. The result was shocking but proof that if you use a few old-fashioned business tactics of open and sincere communication, the possibilities of making a new business partner are endless.

It was less than a day later and Maria and I were talking on the phone, she in California with me in Texas. I remember being very excited and nervous at the same time. I told her my vision for my book project and sent her a 3-chapter sample of my novel. Within days she read the work, understood my vision and created what we have come to call: The Proud Souls Tree.

The fact that Maria and I have become such good friends is not at all a surprise to me, because I have always been fond of the hand-shake and face-to-face meetings—even in the fast-paced information age. The concept for my sales pitch was simple: I need a cover artist to stop that inquisitive reader in their tracks as they pan the aisles of their favorite bookstore, and I couldn’t afford to hire one. Maria was open enough to understand and appreciate the sincerity and power behind good networking. Every person who buys my book or simply comes within contact of my book’s cover is also coming in contact with a part of Maria Sanchez and her mission to share her art with the world, in the same manner as I am trying to perform with my writing.

So get out there and toss aside those savvy how-to books aside every now and then and look yourself in the mirror and say, if I were on the receiving end of this particular call, or email or letter, how would I wish to be approached and how would I wish to be treated. The trade-off for Maria and I? She asked for 3 complimentary copies of my book and I noted her name on the copyright page and the back cover to my novel and it all began with a simple letter and request to put her work on the front of my debut novel. Let's not forget the hidden moral: Who knows what I would have conjured up had she said no?