Inspiring Workshop

Posted by: Darlene on: February 11, 2013

• In: Inspiration | Writing
• 34 Comments

I took Friday off of work to attend an all day eWomen Network workshop called How to be a Best Selling Author & Treat your Book as a Business. It was well worth the time spent. The workshop was facilitated by two amazing speakers, Teresa de Grosbois and Charmaine Hammond, both published authors and international speakers.  The energy in the room was vibrant with many opportunities to meet new people and network.  A group I belong to, CWILL BC (Children’s’ Writers and Illustrators of BC) had a display table and I was able to showcase my books and hand out book marks.

My head was spinning with all the valuable information I collected. Here are  a few things I learned that I would like to share:

1. You can’t make yourself famous.
2. You need to connect with influential people and have them talk about your book.
3. You need to get in relationship with influential people but be appropriate.
4. Be aware of the ‘premature ask’.
5. Blog your book before publication to grow a following.
6. Be part of a community of reciprocity.
7. Be authentic from a place of love and it will come back to you.
8. Give yourself permission to start sloppily, you have to learn as you go.
9. Have a theme, do a series, be an expert in your field.
10. You need endorsements in order to stand out.
11. Find people to collaborate with.
12. Systemize everything to keep yourself organized and save time.
13. Never speak for free but sometimes it’s OK to speak for no fee.
14. Look for in-kind sponsorship and recognize your sponsors constantly.
15. Speaking engagements are the best way to get your book out there.
16. Contact libraries, schools, women’s conferences, community service clubs, book clubs, alumni etc.
17. Create events that rock!
18. A website and  a blog are a must and you should be on some social media sites.
19. Create an author page on Amazon, connect it to your blog, twitter, Facebook etc.
20. Publishers look to see if you have a platform already.

Teresa de Grosbois offers workshops through Wildfire Workshops, ignite your dreams. I have summarized her three points on how to create a word of mouth epidemic using the analogy of a wildfire:

1. Spark: What is the problem you want to solve for the world?
2. Fuel: How passionate are you to be authentic?
3. Wind: The relationships that will help you are the wind to grow your fire. Be the wind in someone else’s fire.

Charmaine Hammond is the author of the best seller On Toby’s Terms which is being made into a movie.

I left with some great new ideas but also feeling good that I am already doing some of these things. I do feel I am part of a community of reciprocity through my blog. I have so much support from my blog followers and I so appreciate it. If there is anything I can ever do for any of you, please let me know.

I will leave you with this poster I found on Facebook. I’m sorry but I don’t remember who posted it originally.

Do you feel that you are part of a community of reciprocity?

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Tags: Charmaine Hammond, eWomen Network, On Toby's Terms, Teresa de Grosbois, Wildfire Workshops