I am just beginning to teach my course ‘How to Write And Publish Your Book In 40 Days’ for the winter semester in many schools throughout the lower mainland in and around Vancouver BC.

One of the points I always stress to my students is to use a simple template to write their books. I teach them to write 10 to 25 chapter topics for their book depending on the size of the book they wish to write. Then for each chapter topic I have them come up with 10 points they will cover about that topic.
 
They now have only to write a page or two about each point and they will soon magically have their book written. This way when they have mapped out their book from front to back they know what is going to be written on each page.

A little bit of up front time spent mapping out your book will save you a ton of time in the long run. This technique keeps my students from drifting and getting lost in a sea of words and ideas. You would not drive to a new distant destination without a map so why would you write a book with out a template?

Once you get used to this technique you will find it to be a very valuable tool. You can literally start writing your book on any page you wish. You can start on the last chapter then go to the middle chapter and then the first and it will still fit perfectly together.

Don’t get lost on a dark deserted road to nowhere with your book and then think you are suffering from writers block. Take this simple template idea and make your writing career that much easier.

It’s that time of year again when you will soon be pondering a new year’s resolution. What is it going to be? Will it be to loose some weight, quit smoking or maybe to just treat your fellow man with more kindness and respect.

What about being a published author by writing your own book in 2008? Almost 81% of our North American population say they would like to write a book. That means that over 4 out of every 5 people who will read this blog post have expressed an interest in writing their own book.

So with so many people wanting to write their own book how come only a small percentage of people actually achieve published author status? Well it is no secret that the mighty excuse is the reason for stopping so many would be authors in their tracks.

The two biggest excuses I hear are I don’t know how to write and the second one is that they suffer from perfectionism. Their book is just never quite good enough to put it out into the world of readers.

Well here’s my professional opinion on these two excuses.

# 1 I don’t know how to write.

If you can hold a conversation you can write a book. Write your book in a simple conversational style and you will do just fine. It is a myth that you need to be a literary giant to make it as an author. If you need proof just read my book. It is doing just fine and I am making a very substantial secondary income from being an author.

#2 The book isn’t quite good enough yet to be published.

There are a lot of people that suffer from perfectionism and I was in its spell for too many years as well. First of all there is no such thing as a perfect book so thinking that your book has to be perfect before being published is an illusion. The bottom line is a mediocre published book will always do better than an author waiting for their book to be perfect.

Use a simple template to help you write your book and spend about an hour per day writing. Within one month you will have a book that will be about 200 pages in length and you will be ready to publish a book that will completely change your life for the better.

Think about it this way! For about 20 or 30 hours of writing you can start attracting all sorts of life changing opportunities by becoming the author of a book. I know of no other opportunity that is available to so many people like you and I. Take advantage of it and make 2008 the start of the best year ever.

Want to know a simple little technique to help you get more readers to your articles?

Go to http://www.ezinearticles.com/  and you will notice down the right hand side of the page there are pictures of authors under the Author Spotlight column.

There is a wealth of knowledge in that column that is easily accessible by having a closer look at those authors and their articles.

Click on one of the faces in that row that has at least 20 articles so you can start to get better numbers to quantify what I am about to show you.

What you will see when you click on those faces is those author’s statistics. It will list the titles of all the articles for that author. You will also see the category the article was submitted to and then the date it was submitted and lastly the important number of how many views that article has had.

This is your key to success in authoring article titles that will get lots of people reading your articles.

Once you begin to study the article statistic pages of several authors you will notice that certain titles and subjects get considerably more views than other articles.

You may notice that many of the articles by a particular author will have a few hundred views but a few will have some times 10 even 50 times the normal amount of views.

Start looking at authors’ statistics in your niche and you will soon see a correlation between subjects, title types and number of views.

So how can this help you? Start to notice the articles that have the most views and write articles on that topic as well as use the same type of hooks those authors have used in their titles.  You will soon start to have the same readership views as they get.

If you start to research this and take away the winning techniques that these popular articles use in the subjects and titles you can dramatically improve your article reader ship which will translate into more traffic going to your website. Once you have more traffic you will be in a very good position to turn those readers into more sales.

You might even notice on your own articles that some are being read considerably more than others. Have a close look at the title and subject that you used and do more of it.

The internet and technology is giving us all statistical numbers that only a few years ago weren’t available to us. Take these numbers and use them to your advantage and also to help your customers.

Having taught so many would be authors how to write and publish their book has really given me a keen sense of how faith plays out in our lives. With 81% of people in North America saying they want to write a book why is it that so few actually do?

Lets face it if you are coming to my class it is probably a given that you are more serious about completing your book than the rest of the population. With that being said why do I have so many students that come to my classes with an almost completed book but they still have not reached the finish line?

In fact I have had several students that say they have been writing their book since the late 1960’s and still aren’t to the finish line. What up with that? What’s up is always the same answer I get from every student and that is when they are ready to pull the trigger and shoot their book into the published world they loose faith.

They loose faith that what they have written is good enough and worthy of their reading audience. They loose faith that they really can be a published author and they loose faith that they themselves are good enough.

Here they are standing at the door to ‘Published Author’ and they loose faith. So who is the guard standing at the door stopping them from going through? It is their worst enemy and it is the enemy that has stopped them from enjoying a more full and successful life.

That enemy is their own mind working against themselves. This is the same mind that might even encourage a friend or even a total stranger to go for it but when it comes to them they feel they are not worthy and loose faith. So close and yet so far because nothing happens until that book is out there for people to read.

The tragedy of this thinking is that probably 90% of the people who would read their book will be much more supportive and kinder to the would be author then they are to themselves. How ironic!

This reminds me of the fly that continues to fly up against the closed window looking for freedom until death. Had the fly moved over 6 inches to the open door the fly would have had total freedom to live out its life. It is the same story with the would be author. If they could just have the faith to let their own mind go they would see the miraculous results that being a published author can bring to their lives and the lives of their readers.

If there is one big piece of advice I can give these authors on writing a book it is this. To just let it go and have faith. Have faith in yourself and have faith in your readers and you will join the ranks of published author and I promise you your world will change.

The fall season night school classes have started and I am busy teaching lots of eager new authors how to write and publish their own books. I get so pumped about letting my students know the opportunities they have in their lives by becoming a published author. Many have already been working on their books and some for several years.

When I ask why they have been working so long on their books and haven’t gotten them out yet it always comes down to the same answer. Although it’s usually a convoluted answer the answer is they just don’t think their book is good enough to publish. It is not perfect yet so they just keep stalling and tell themselves as long as they’re still writing the dream is still on the way.

But you see here is the big point for all us would be authors to ponder. Your book will never be perfect because there is no such thing as a perfect book. A mediocre published book will always outsell a book that never gets published because the author is waiting for perfection.

Of course we want a well written book with good content but it is not the most important thing you need to be a published author. You need to finish it and get over yourself. Just say enough is enough and get the book published and out into the world. Nothing is going to happen to you as an author until your book is published because until it’s published you are just another wanna be author.

If writing the perfect book was the criteria for being a published author we would all have nothing to read. Noting bad is going to happen to you if your book is not perfect. I will tell you this. If I can write a best selling book then anyone can.

You are going to get good and bad comments whether or not your book is the best written book in history so you may as well get used to it. As a matter of fact, the very few derogatory comments you may get are usually from a people who has never written a book and the nice ones are from most of the rest of the population and often from authors.

So I say as a teacher and author to all my students to just get your book out there and watch your world change.

Hooray for the internet and all of the tools and resources that come along with it.  Writing and publishing a book has never been simpler.  Here are 10 great tools and resources that make writing and publishing easier than ever.

5 Top Writing and Publishing Tools:

Free Writing Software.
Did you know that you don’t need to purchase expensive word processing software to write a book?  It’s true.  There are now an abundance of really well developed open source software products, that means they’re free, available to writers.  My favorite two are Google Documents, available for free with any Google or gmail account.  It works very similarly to MS Word and you can save your document in any variety of forms including word doc. 

The other product that I really like is Open Office.  Like MS Office it offers spreadsheet, word processing, database software and much more.  So there you go, not having the right software is no longer an excuse to not write a book.

Meta Search Engines.
Each search engine has its strengths and benefits.  However there are now search engines available that combine the power of the big four, Google, Alta Vista, Yahoo, and MSN.  Now, with a quick keyword or two, you can have four times the results when you’re researching and your results will be more accurate.  Research time will be cut in half, assuming that you don’t get sidetracked with all of the cool information available online. 

My research trick, make notes when you write about what needs to be researched and research only the specific information that you need.  That way if you need to know how many minutes it takes the average stoplight to turn green, you can look up that specific information and not spend hours researching stoplights.

One Stop Shopping Sites.
Due to the number of people that have realized how lucrative information marketing can be, a wonderful number of services have popped up that make owning and operating an information marketing website easy.  These sites generally offer the following feature:
 Shopping cart software solutions
 Merchant accounts
 Website hosting
 Website design templates
 Autoresponders
 Newsletter subscription tools
 Affiliate marketing management tools
 Search Engine Optimization tools
 Fulfillment and distribution options.

Online Bookstores!
While it’s great to sell your book on your own website, the advantage of online bookstores like Amazon is that they’re commonly acceptable purchasing places for the general public.  Joe from down the street may not feel comfortable giving you his credit card number but he’ll gladly give it to the folks at Amazon.  You make a sale and cautious Joe gets his book.  Online bookstores are also a great tool to build a community of followers.  Amazon enables authors to create a community by posting information about the author, reviews, and even forums and chat rooms.

Expert Knowledge.
Information marketing is not without its experts and many of these experts have made themselves available to people that are interested in marketing and publishing their own books.  This means that expert knowledge is available to you in just about any form you prefer.  If you like one on one coaching, it’s out there.  If you prefer online classes, well those are available too.  Prefer an ebook or video tutorial on writing or publishing, it’s all available online.  The internet has opened up a whole new kind of classroom where you can learn about anything including how to write and publish a book.

Writing, publishing and making money with your own book is just like any other business. You will find 5% of businesses, are making money and the other 95% are struggling financially. Being an author is no different than being in business for yourself and most authors don’t want to except this so they remain broke.

Poor authors think it is all about the writing and Rich authors know its all about the marketing. You could have written the best book ever but if you don’t know how to market it you will probably stay fairly broke. On the other hand a mediocre book that is properly marketed could make you a very rich person.

So lesson one as an author is to accept the fact that you are first a marketer and then an author if you truly want to make a lot of money by writing and publishing your own book. That’s good news for authors because marketing your own book is easy to do if you just take the time to learn how.

Writing and self publishing today can be a financial bonanza and there is much help to encourage would be authors how to make a lot of money writing their books. If you are like 81% of the population who say they want to write their own book there has never been a better time in history to prosper as an author.

There are many books available on the internet as well as book stores that will show you how to write your book in as little as a month or even less and I am talking about only an hour a days work. Self publishing your book has also been made much easier as well because of technology.

Not too many years back you had to pay a large some of money to get 2000 books printed by a printer just so you could get a decent per book price. Now with desk top publishing and new technology you can print one book at a time.

One book I highly recommend that is full of good information is ‘From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur’ by Stephanie Chandler
http://tinyurl.com/2ozkwq  

One of the greatest benefits of writing a book is that you position yourself as the expert. Most people I talk to have no idea about how to become the expert because most have never really thought about it.

When I ask people how they could become an expert in their field of work most are left without an answer. When I press them a little more for a response most think that it might be through training and a certifying board that regulates experts in any given field,

When I tell them that they can be an expert by first declaring themselves as one and second reinforcing their expert hood by writing a book some will just not believe that it is that easy.

You see in most industries you can position yourself quite quickly as the expert if you do a few very simple things. There is in most cases no certifying board of experts or a God that sanction you as the one for expert hood.

Why is this so important to you? Because once you position yourself as the expert your world will explode with new opportunities. You see most people will seek out and pay more money to people who they perceive as being the expert.

So rather than you having to chase down customers the table will be turned and the customers will seek you out for your expertise. The nice thing about the customers who seek you out for your expertise is that they will pay you more money and be a better customer in general because they know the value of good advice.

I remember years ago in my industry of fire and flood restoration a new fellow came out of the woodwork and declared himself the expert. Well about 50 % of the people in my industry took the stand of who is this guy to declare himself the expert? The other 50% took him at face value and believed he was the expert.

Well to make a long story short here it is 12 years later and he is making about 4 million dollars a year as the expert in my industry. He declared himself the expert and was positioned to attract the high paying clients that wanted his expertise. The miracle of stories like this is that it is easier than almost anyone thinks.

I will be writing about all the different tips and strategies you can use to position yourself as the expert over the next few emails. I will also be talking about eliminating any excuses you may have that rear there ugly head in your own mind. I am sincere when I say if I can do it you can to and I‘m going to show you how.

If you have friends or business associates that would like to substantially explode their income please forward on this article and have them opt-in to my mailing list.

Committed To Your Expert Success

Interested in self-publishing?  Take a moment to answer the following questions:

• Are you an expert in your field and want to use your published book as a marketing tool to enhance your career?

• Are you an author that is passionate about the content in your book and need 100% creative control?

• Do you want to make more money per book sold than you would working with a major publisher?

• Do you own the rights to republish public domain content?

• Do you, or your company, need to develop publications specifically for your current customers?  For example, manuals, training guides, etc…

If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you need to consider self-publishing.

Self-publishing is a viable, profitable, and respected means of getting your book into the hands of your customers. 

Here are three powerful reasons to becoming a self-published author, and why you should consider it for your book:

1. Self publishing enables you to publish any type of content. 

Whether you want to write an autobiography, a training manual, or your favorite vegetarian recipes the sky is the limit.  Traditional publishers will only accept books that have a very wide and mass market appeal, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t thousands of people looking for material just like yours.  Self-publishing can make it happen. 

2. Self-publishing gives you 100% creative control over your book. 

Often, traditional publishers don’t give authors final say on the cover, title, or even final edits of the copy.  For many authors, this simply isn’t acceptable and traditional publishing becomes an endless process of frustration.  Conversely, it is this complete control over the content that makes some authors nervous.  Not to worry, there are many experts that can guide a new author to how to create a bestselling cover, book layout, and even editing.  The important thing to remember is that as a self-published author, you have the final say.

3. Self-publishing is also a highly lucrative means of publishing. 

Not only do you make significantly more money per book than you will with a traditional publisher, you don’t have to pay your literary agent 15% of your earnings.  AND because you can get your book out to market much faster than traditional publishing, it can take up to two years to see your book on bookstore shelves, self-publishing means you can start making your millions much sooner.

Publishing and profiting from your own book is only limited by your imagination. Create a dream life from writing, self publishing and promoting your own book. It is easier than most people think.

Writing a book, regardless of the topic, genre, or content, will change your life. Following are three very important reasons you must write and publish you own book 

1. Writing a book will open up doors of opportunity that you never imagined.
 
I have a friend, who is a well-known brain and quantum physics expert with a PhD.  Only after she self-published her first book, did she say that her career really started to take off.   Not to mention that she made significantly more money simply due to the opportunities that opened up for her as an author.  She was amazed at what a difference publishing made in her life and that:  her title as an author trumped her PhD status.
It’s crazy, I know. She went to school for a total of 21 years at a cost of thousands of dollars and ended up achieving her financial goals only after she wrote and self-published her first book.

2. Your Self-Published book makes you the expert and gives you a substantial edge over your competition. 

Imagine that you just bought a new, and very rowdy, puppy and you need help training him.  Searching the local dog trainers, you find one who has written a book on how to train difficult dogs and you find another trainer with a similar resume but no book under his belt. 

Who do you turn to? 

Most people will hire the dog trainer that has written the book. 

This is the way that the world works.  Those professionals with the title of “Author” are perceived as the experts.  Your book will sell your knowledge, services or products, for you.  You’ll never have to make a cold call again.  Imagine saying to a client that is inquiring about your product or services, “Let me send you my book.” 

3. Your Self-Published book enables you, as an expert, to share your knowledge to the world. 

When you write and self publish your book, you have full control over the contents.  You are the creator and you can express your points in any way you like. This allows you the freedom to convey your thoughts through words and/or illustrations. 

As a writer, you have the ability to create words that paint a picture or spark the imagination of your readers in a way that no other tool can.  Words are powerful, as is knowledge, and you can use your book to express both.

Additionally, if your book is written with the purpose of offering a benefit or helping people solve a problem, then your self-published book and your knowledge are helping others.  It doesn’t get better than being able to make a great living helping others live better lives.