Accounting is one of the most important parts of running a small business. Unfortunately, so many small business owners leave some of the most critical details of accounting for a time when they are forced to think about them. This can lead to inefficiencies in your business, the mismanagement of finances, and missed opportunities. The following are a few tips to help small businesses owners manage their accounting better. Record All of Your Expenses Times can get hectic when running a small business, and it can be easy to lose track of your expenses if you are not careful to record Read more…
Today we’re going to talk about putting a deadline on our goals and incorporating them into a reasonable timeline. Then, we will combine the timeline with the other elements we’ve been looking at for the past month, in our “Goal Posts” series, and write some SMART Goals. For a general overview of what SMART GOALS are, check out this post that I wrote a year ago. SMART goals are written based on criteria using the pneumonic acronym SMART which stands for the following: S=Specific M=Measurable A=Achievable R=Relevant T=Time We will take all of the elements of your SMART goal and Read more…
It’s the 1st Wednesday of the month again. That’s when I take part in Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group. I encourage you to check out their website and even sign up for the IWSG Newsletter. Today I’m going to explore self-publishing with print-on-demand, as I answer the #IWSG question for September – What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why? When I first decided to write my book, Facing Cancer as a Friend, I felt as though I was looking at a timer, counting down the amount of time I had to get a platform set up and Read more…
Most authors use beta readers to help them prepare their book for publication. It’s extra work and takes more time, but this is a step you won’t want to skip if you want your book to be as good as possible. How do you get beta readers? What do they do for you? Beta readers go by several different names Beta readers Street Team Advance Readers Launch Team Book Crew Review Crew I call my beta readers “Advance Readers,” because they read my book in advance of it being in its final form (more about that later). What do Beta Read more…
There are several things to keep in mind as you approach formatting your ebook. An ebook isn’t just a paperback that you can read on your e-reader. It has distinct properties that make it not only different but in some cases, better than a print book. After all, a paperback can’t transport you to a linked website. You also can’t change the font style and size nor have a linked table of contents in a paperback. These unique aspects of an ebook bring with them some, “side effects” if you don’t format your ebook properly. For example, because the reader Read more…
Today I will be exploring Amazon Author Central. What is it? How do you set up an Amazon Author Page? What can it do for you and your audience? Let’s start with Amazon Author Central. What is it? Amazon Author Central is your go-to place as an author who is selling books on the world’s largest online bookstore. There, you can find links to tools you can use as an author to write your books and sell them on Amazon. You can find the reviews people have left for your books as well as your sales statistics. I think the Read more…
In today’s post, I will be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at me putting together my next book, Facing Cancer as a Parent: Helping Your Children Cope with your Cancer. Today, it’s all about making your book look good with the right formatting. Making Your Book Look Good starts with no formatting at all I’ve found this to be incredibly important. To help you see the transformations process that happens when you are making your book look good I have taken some screenshots of my manuscript along with some hints. Putting Your Best Font Forward With print projects, I often forget about Read more…
In this post, we are going to look at editing your manuscript. When people think of editing, they tend to have flashbacks to their 4th-grade grammar class when they were parsing sentences and ensuring the spelling and punctuation was correct. We have moved up to the big leagues now. Editing your manuscript has gotten a lot more complicated. For one thing, there are different types of editing. Whether you hire an editor (recommended), have a smart friend help, or do it yourself, you will need to be familiar with the various types. Because of everything involved in editing your manuscript, Read more…
I am big on using an outline in my writing process. Since (for now) I would like to avoid the whole pantsers vs. plotters debate, I will focus this post on outlining your non-fiction book. There are several reasons I recommend outlining your non-fiction book … Outlining your non-fiction book will help you come up with ideas Think of it as a method of brainstorming. You are getting all the ideas that have been swirling around in your head, out and onto paper. Some of these ideas will work and will be worth exploring deeper. Others will seem disconnected from Read more…
You’ve written your book proposal and decided that your idea for a book is definitely worth pursuing. As a self-published author (or an independent blogger) you will want your content to look as professional as possible. This means doing some of the same things professional publishers do. In this “Behind the Scenes of Self-Publishing” post, I will be sharing why it’s important for every self-published writer to have a style guide. Create your style guide, or adopt one that someone else has created, early on in your writing process (the earlier the better). In your style guide, you will answer Read more…
According to one survey, 81% of people believe they have a book in them.  Unfortunately, most people don’t. They might have a story in them, but a book is another thing, entirely. A book is written for an audience. In the past, publishers have asked the questions that ensured whether or not a book would likely sell. Writers answer these questions in the form of a book proposal. With the ability to self-publish, no one is asking these questions. Today, most writers: Don’t know what sells Overestimate the demand for their book idea in an already saturated market Overestimate their Read more…
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Reviews by Heather Erickson I’m an experienced reviewer of books, products, experiences-You name it! Sometimes I am given a product or book in exchange for an honest review. I always say whether or not this is the case, in the review itself. I always give my honest opinion.  Learn More
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