Logical Expressions Blog

Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and this week, I've been thinking about the many things I'm thankful for that make me happy right now. Sure they're small, but here in no particular order is stuff that made me smile this week. 1. Flannel sheets. After spending 2 weeks in Arizona, crawling into non-flannel sheets the night we returned caused a screech of frozen agony. It was time to switch to flannel in such a big way. 2. James' artisan bread-baking hobby. (Well and James himself too, but that goes without saying.) The smell of baking bread...

November is my least favorite month of the year. It is the time of my "November Pout" which is my cranky way of welcoming (not!) the onset of winter. Although I do enjoy the change of seasons here, I like winter going into spring a lot better than fall going into winter. When it's gray and dreary, I find it more difficult to retain perspective. As this week's article points out, when you have the blues (or in my case a "November Pout") it's a good time to focus on what you have, instead of what you don't...

This week's article is by James Byrd, aka the "logical half" of Logical Expressions, Inc. After avoiding "the ebook thing" for ages, I finally delegated ebook creation to him. As a programmer, James loves researching nerdy stuff and distilling it down to something that actually makes sense. So far he has converted one book to Kindle format and uploaded it to Amazon. It may be available by the time you read this newsletter. We're probably going to hold off on uploading anything other than Kindle for a while because we need more ISBNs. We've read from reliable sources that ISBNs...

We did a survey recently and a large percentage of the respondents said they dream of writing a book, but they haven't. They used phrases like "I've been meaning to for so long" or "I've wanted to for years." It seems like there's a lot of talk and no action among aspiring authors. Why is that? This week's article explores why people don't actually do the things they say they want to do. Enjoy! Why Don't People Do The Things They Say They Want to Do? by Susan C. Daffron Whether you want to...

As noted in the article, I have returned from my latest trip. Never in my life have I done back-to-back traveling like this before. Let me just say that air travel is not as much fun as it used to be. Even though getting there (and back) was not half the fun, my experience at the No More Homeless Pets Conference and the subsequent visit to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary  was incredible. (I'm even in the closing video - http://video.bestfriends.org/media/p/1347.aspx) I realize it has nothing to do with publishing, but if you are an animal lover...

I often wonder if I worry too much. As a consumer myself, I want our customers to be happy purchasing the things we produce. I've had enough buyer's remorse in my life that I don't want to inflict it on anyone else. Obviously, not every client we've ever had loves us, since people don't always get along. However, we do try to represent the products we sell accurately. I think that is why we've only had two product returns in the five years our online storefront has existed. In both cases, people simply didn't read the text explaining what...

Right now, I'm listening to the peaceful sound of canines snoring on the floor next to my chair. Apparently, one dog is having a groovy dream, given all the little woofs and paw wiggles. Today's rainy-day tranquility has only been interrupted by the occasional phone call. I had a great time talking to a client, but other than that, today's calls have been annoying B2B telemarketer calls. So in addition to the writing advice below, I offer you my husband's best writing productivity tip: "Don't answer the phone." Although I have a difficult time not answering...

Fall is definitely here. We shut down the garden, and I've been taking dogs to the veterinarian for their fall checkups. (So far, everything seems fine with the all-furry team!) In the midst of all this activity, we've also been plotting out activities for next year. I'm pleased to report that the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) will be a sponsor of the Self-Publishers Online Conference in May. Yes, SPOC 2010 is coming! You can keep up with all the details by signing up for SPOC News at: http://www.SelfPublishersOnlineConference.com/ In related news, I also...

Today, I'm thinking about reading. I got a shipment of books from Amazon this afternoon, and now I'm in a hurry to get this done so I can dig into my new cache of books and learn. People underestimate the power of simply reading books. Actually having the patience to sit down and read a book cover-to-cover is a tremendous and often under-appreciated competitive advantage in business. "Read books!" is also the first advice I give to aspiring writers and publishers. Countless written resources about entrepreneurship and publishing are available that cost nothing or next to...

I've been spending a lot of time dealing with email related to the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) Web site. As I've mentioned, I'm now the president of the association and I recently rebuilt the Web site at www.spawn.org. Another little piece of the fall-out related to the massive Web site overhaul was discovering problems with the newsletter lists. So I moved them all over to AWeber, which is the email autoresponder service I use for this Publishize newsletter as well. In any case, I've spent a lot of time explaining to people why this switch was...

Today, I'll be brief because I feel icky. I think I'm getting a cold. We've had three sets of houseguests in the last month and one of them infected James with a germ. He, in turn, seems to have infected me. Anyway, since I was not exactly inspired to write, I looked back at an old Publishize survey, which indicated many of you are interested in copywriting. And thus the subject of this week's article was born! Enjoy! How to Write Copy for Your Book Website by Susan C. Daffron A few tips...

Tomorrow I'm doing two free "sneak peak" webinars for Best Friends Animal Society. Mine are called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Fundraisers" and they are based on information in my book Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups. You can read more about the Webinars and access links to sign up here: http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/lasvegas/news.aspx?pID=12876. This webinar and the speaking opportunity at Best Friend's upcoming No More Homeless Pets Conference in October came about because of book marketing activities that I performed literally months ago. The value of marketing consistently over...

Today, I’m writing this later than usual. We had a serious need to can 50 cups worth of veggies before it was too late. We now have 23 pints of food that we'll be eating for months to come. When the garden is in power produce mode, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. This week's article talks about coming up with writing ideas. Enjoy! Finding Topic Ideas for Your Blog, Articles, or Even Your Book by Susan C. Daffron When you are trying to figure out what to write, don't worry about what...

For those who have been wondering about all my nerdy comments on Facebook lately, at long last I feel comfortable revealing what the "Big Web Site" project is. I'm now the President of the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN), which you can find online at http://www.spawn.org/. I've been a member for years, and I'm thrilled to be working with such a great group of creative professionals. Redoing the Web site was my first task for SPAWN, and it's mostly done. I haven't quite finished the private member area stuff yet or implemented the new ecommerce store,...

Even though it's only Wednesday as I’m writing, this week has been one of those emotional roller coaster weeks with extreme highs and lows. I started off by committing a serious "reply to all" email faux pas. (Yes, admit it, you've done it too!) Then on Monday, I had not one, not two, but three clients with technical traumas. One person had a "meltdown;" another professed to be "going insane" dealing with a printer. However, I resolved them all, so by Tuesday, I was riding high and feeling like a techno-goddess. That high continued through my NAPRP teleseminar...

Some of you may remember that author Shel Horowitz spoke at our Self-Publishers Online Conference in May. The other day, Shel told me about a great deal he's offering on his book Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. This self-published book is actually the basis of a new book he's working on for a traditional publisher (Wiley) called Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, which he is co-authoring with Jay Conrad Levinson. The new book will contain quite a bit of information from Principled Profit. Once the new book comes out, Shel is prohibited by contract from selling Principled Profit...

This week, I'm slowly recovering from my 10-day vacation/conference on the East Coast. Everything went incredibly well. The airlines and weather gods cooperated and everything went off without a hitch. (Those of you on Facebook can check out pics of everything from wild horses to the henna tattoo I got at the Ocean City boardwalk.) At the conference, someone who purchased my new book Funds to the Rescue on the first day of the show told me the next day that she'd "stayed up all night" reading it. A couple of people also came up to our booth...

One of the highlights of my day today was talking to someone about fundraising. Every week, I interview someone from an animal rescue group for my radio show. This week I talked to someone from a small dog rescue in California. After the recording was over, we talked about fundraising for ages. Of course, I had a lot to say since I've just written a book on the subject (Funds to the Rescue). I loved sharing ideas about fun and easy ways she could raise more money for her group. After all, that's exactly why I wrote the book. ...

Today, I drove down to our local organic farm and picked up our first CSA of the season. For those who don't know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. You buy a "share" of a farm's produce. I can report that the yummy food from our CSA is one of the best things about summer. Tonight, I'm lobbying for a salad made from some fine organically-grown leafies to accompany dinner. When you are a member of a CSA, you also learn where your food comes from and how much work it is to produce. It gives you a new...