Logical Expressions Blog

Since we are no longer publishing a newsletter, we’ve rebranded our former Publishize Newsletter archive site as The Book Consultant. It still has all the great content you’ve come to know and love and we’ve been writing a lot of new articles lately. So without further ado, here are the latest articles we’ve put online in the last month or so: 10 Ways You Can Use a Web Site to Promote Your Book After your book is done and out in the world, use your Web site to promote it. How to Break...

A friend of mine told me that January 13 is "Make Your Dreams Come True day." I checked multiple Web sites and it seems to be for real. According to Holiday Insights, on this day you should: "Do something, anything to move in the direction of achieving your dreams." What a great idea for a holiday! One of my dreams was always to write a book. If you're like most people, maybe you've shared that dream at one time or another. But then you thought... "I don't know how." ...

If last year stunk for you writing-wise, it may have been for one or more of these reasons: lack of ideas, lack of motivation, lack of time. This article explores a few possible solutions to these problems, based on my experience: Blasting Though Writer's Block - How to Get Back Into the Writing Groove Let us all hope that it is the first of many more articles to come. Enjoy! Technorati Tags: publishize,logical expressions,writing,books,author,susan daffron

It’s almost Thanksgiving and I was thinking about all the things I’m thankful for this year. In the spirit of the Facebook “25 Random Things” genre, I thought I’d post mine here. Sure none of it is earth-shattering stuff, but it’s all true. 1. My husband. The most supportive, smart, and wonderful person I have ever met. 2. My sister. Who puts up with almost daily rants and whines via email and even usually understands because of our shared history. 3. The Internet. Which makes it possible for me to earn a living from the middle of...

Like a lot of people I’ve submitted my articles to free article sites in an effort to drive traffic. I’ve never thought it was a particularly good idea for a number of reasons, so only about 10 of my articles are out there on these free sites. Now I’m even MORE glad I never really bought into article marketing. The other day I looked through my spam filter and discovered a PayPal invoice. I retrieved it from spam land and discovered that one free article site has decided that he’s paying too much for bandwidth so now he’s...

We've been quiet this fall because we've been busy working on our newest project. Over the last couple of years, so many people have asked us questions about how we managed to write and publish our 10 books that we decided to distill everything we know down into easy-to-digest modular "chunks." The result is a series of training courses at our newest Web site http://www.SelfPubU.com. Our beta testers have given us great feedback and now we're finally ready to share SelfPubU with the world. Learning how to publish books used to be time-consuming at best and...

It feels like a long time since I've sent out the Publishize newsletter because we switched the dates around due to the Self-Publishers Online Conference. As an aside, if you attended SPOC, please fill out our survey. (We sent the link to you in SPOC News.) We need your help to make SPOC 2011 even better. Although attending a conference like SPOC can help you move forward, we've found that many people still feel "stuck" in their book publishing journey and need help getting unstuck. So we're starting up self-publishing training classes. If there's an aspect of...

Because we had at least one person who wanted to upgrade her SPOC pass today, but couldn't, we're leaving the registration link and site log-in open through May 31.

The third day of SPOC focused on turning your book into a business with a complete product line. If you joined us, you listened to some big names in the writing and publishing world. Here are a few gems from what they shared, and in case you missed a call, how you can get the audio downloads or CDs.

The second day of SPOC was chock full of helpful ideas for promoting your book to the world. If you joined us, you listened to some big names in the writing and publishing world. Here are a few gems from what they shared, a preview of what's coming tomorrow, plus, in case you missed a call, how you can get the audio downloads, CDs plus other must-have items for the soon-to-be author.

The first day of SPOC was a whirlwind of information. If you joined us, you listened to some big names in the writing and publishing world. Here are a few gems from what they shared, a preview of what's coming tomorrow on Promotion Day, plus, in case you missed a call, how you can get the audio downloads, CDs plus other must-have items for the soon-to-be author.

Here is a short run-down of the agenda for DAY 3, which is all about turning your book into a business. Friday May 14, 2010

Here is a short run-down of the agenda for DAY 2 - Promotion Day, which is all about building a relationship with your target market and ideal readership. Thurday May 13, 2010

Here is a short run-down of the agenda for DAY 1 - Writing & Publishing Day, a day dedicated to showing you how to write and produce a finished book from your manuscript. Wednesday May 12, 2010

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We're happy because on today's dog walk through the forest, we found our first morel mushrooms of the season. We plan to invite them to dinner. I'm sending out this newsletter a week early because I may or may not get one out next week. Next Wednesday is the first day of the Self-Publishers Online Conference! As you might imagine, I'm a little nervous about SPOC. I'm quietly hoping everything will go the way it's supposed to and people will love it. But I'll be honest; putting on an event like this...

It's hard to believe, but after all this preparation, the Self-Publishers Online Conference is next week! All the excitement got me thinking about my own book-publishing journey. I like to joke that it only took 10 years to self-publish my first book. Maybe you can relate to this ;-) In 1996, I read a bunch of self-publishing books and became completely overwhelmed. I had piles of notes, no idea how to write the book, even less clue where to get it printed, and zero money for my first print run. A mere 10 years later in 2006,...

As you might imagine, we've been busy with preparations for the Self-Publishers Online Conference, which will be held May 12-14. I've been talking with speakers and sending out press releases. It's a ton of fun getting to spend time with such cool "book people." As I've mentioned, you can attend the conference live for free, but if you want recordings or CDs, you need to upgrade your registration to a paid pass. If that's something you're interested in, be aware that our early bird discount ends in 2 days on April 30. On a totally non-work related...

It's only 15 days and counting until the Self-Publishers Online Conference and there's been a lot going on! SPOC Behind the Scenes If this is your first time attending SPOC, I encourage you to check out our new "Behind the Login" page, which shows you how SPOC differs from a typical "telesummit." http://leiurl.com/?spocinside Whether you have opted for a Basic (no charge) pass or upgraded to a paid one, your login gives you access to the private area of the SPOC Web site. There you'll find pages for each seminar, so you can...

We just sent out the first press release about the Self-Publishers Online Conference, which will be held May 12-14, 2010. Like last year, the conference is free to attend live. If you want serious quality self-publisher education, you don’t want to miss it! You can register at the SPOC site at http://www.SelfPublishersOnlineConference.com   Authors and Self-Publishers Learn the Latest in the Business of Book Publishing from 15 Experts at Virtual Conference Online Conference to Be Held May 12-14, 2010 SANDPOINT, Idaho - The second annual Self-Publishers Online Conference (SPOC) gives entrepreneurial writers,...

I'm excited to report that although it snowed and hailed yesterday, crocuses are sprouting in my garden. (Just don't tell the local fauna that the salad bar is open.) Today's article is about that annoying negative voice in your mind that complains, doubts, and basically chatters way too much about bad things that have happened in the past and bad things that could happen in the future. Whether you call it the "inner critic," subconscious, or the bad bully upstairs, sometimes you have to tell it to just shut up. Choose to Become a Book Author...

Happy Saint Patty's day everyone. It's been a great day here! On a personal note, I'm adopting a fluffy white dog from a rescue group, so I'll be driving out to pick her up. (Road trip!) We are SO excited. And the as-yet-to-be named dog is SO cute! James and I are also fired up about a writing retreat for book authors that we've decided to do this fall. I wrote up some initial information on the event that we've dubbed the Cabin in the Woods Writing Retreat. Check it out here: Cabin in the Woods Writing...

As noted in this week's Publishize newsletter article, I've been distracted from work by life events, but I still have been lining up speakers for the second annual Self-Publishers Online Conference (SPOC) which will be held May 12-14, 2010. Like last year, there is NO cost to attend the virtual event live, and you can learn from the comfort of your home or office. I haven't gotten to updating the SPOC site yet, but I can report that confirmed speakers include: Dan Poynter – author of the Self Publishing Manual ...

After the last newsletter, I received some nice comments saying, it was okay to switch Publishize to every other week. It's turned out to be a particularly good thing because the last couple weeks have been harsh for reasons unrelated to work. I'm exhausted. This week’s Publishize article answers the question, "What is a book packager?" Using a book packager can be a good option for busy self-publishers. Enjoy! What is a Book Packager? by Susan C. Daffron A book packager or book producer helps a publishing company with the...

Today, I'm making a command decision. At the beginning of the year, I thought about switching the frequency of the Publishize newsletter from weekly to every other week. But in January, I sort of kept writing it every week because I'd had a couple weeks off in December and was in the mood to write again. Now, I've decided it's time to make the break. Next Wednesday, you won't receive this newsletter. I have vast amounts of writing I need to do in preparation for a new project we're launching. And I have a bunch of work to...

This week's Publishize article is about a topic that I've been avoiding: discounts. I've had a number of people ask me loads of questions on this topic for one major reason: it's incredibly confusing. I tried to make it as clear as I could, but it's difficult to explain. If you have more questions, let me know. Enjoy! The Wacky World of Discounts by Susan C. Daffron Although it's confusing, understanding how discounts work is big part of the money matters in publishing. Technorati Tags: publishize,book publishing,discounts,amazon.com,lightning source,books,book store,susan daffron,logical expressions

Yesterday, amidst great fanfare, Steve Jobs released the iPad. You might think that as an author, avid reader, and book publisher, I'd be wildly excited about this new gadget. Do I view the iPad as the "future" of publishing? No. Like many techie devices, it has been saddled with an utterly stupid name. Yo Steve, what were you thinking? The feminine protection jokes made at least 79 circuits around the Internet mere hours after the announcement. Beyond the name, I find I have a problem with hoopla-laden technology launches. It feels like déjà vu all over...

I was reading a magazine article about happiness and it said the most content people take pleasure in little things. According to experts, having tons of money and an expensive car aren't what make people happy. It's the little day-to-day stuff. Since it's January and the gray weather in many parts of the country is bringing people down, here are five things that made me happy today: 1. The sound of my husband's laugh and his big grin when he was amused by something dopey I said while we were doing dishes this morning. 2. The sight of...

Sometimes you have to write an article to answer a question you get repeatedly. This week’s Publishize newsletter article is one of those. As many of you know, I'm the president of a non-profit organization called the Small Publishers Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN), which offers information and resources for people working in publishing. Our members are publishers, authors, designers, or other creative pros. This week's article "Are You Really Self-Publishing or Not?" is based on a lot of rather lively conversations that have been going on in the SPAWN member discussion forum. After trying to explain...

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. We had a lot of fun, but also spent a lot of time doing business and marketing planning. In the process, we thought a lot about what worked and didn't work in 2009. Upon reflection, I realized that the people I most enjoyed working with all have one thing in common: they love books. And going to publishing conferences is fun because everyone there actually reads. It seems insane to me, but not everyone who wants to create a book actually reads books. Obviously, I do not have that...

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Great 2010 from All of Us Here at Logical Expressions, Inc. Thank you for reading our Publishize newsletter and this blog. Our regular article-filled newsletters will return the week of January 4th. In the meantime, if you get tired of eating and watching televised sports over the next few weeks, here are a couple of goofy videos for your amusement. "Cami Card Outtakes" - from our many holiday card photo sessions (like the one above): http://leiurl.com/?HCyt ...

When the temperature is in the single digits, the mantra on the daily hound walkie is "no dawdling." We are out there marching through the forest in the freezing cold to get something done, not to sniff random things, wander aimlessly, or goof off. When it's freezing, you gotta get the All Furry Team out there and get back inside as quickly as possible. I touch on this type of single-minded focus in this week's article. To write a book, sometimes you just need to get out there and get it done. Enjoy! How to...

This week, I set up our first holiday promotion, well, ever. A friend called it an "an advent calendar of savings" which I thought was a cool description. If you missed the email, check out the SUNsational Winter Solstice Holiday Countdown on this page: http://leiurl.com/?sol Meanwhile, I also completely gutted and redesigned the home page of the Logical Expressions Web site. Dealing with the Cascading Style Sheets involved in the process made me utterly cranky, but all was not lost. My foul humor inspired this week's article, since every time I think of the movie Say Anything...

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...

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...

Sometimes you realize that the right time to do something is right NOW. This morning, even though I had about 100 work-related things to do, I realized I couldn't put off harvesting my basil and my garlic. You know fall is approaching when the basil starts to get weird, and you have to just rip out the plants. It was a harvest it, or lose it moment. Many heads of garlic are now hanging in the woodshed curing (drying). I also spent a peaceful half-hour sitting in my garden de-stemming the basil. The leaves spent most of the day...

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...

This week, if all goes well, I will be hanging out on a beach somewhere by the time you read this. Through the magic of modern technology, I set the blog up early to post while I'm on vacation. This week's article gives you a few simple tips to avoid ugly documents. The world has too many ugly documents already (many of which I've had to fix), so please don't add to the problem. Enjoy!    - Susan Daffron 5 Document Design "Don'ts" to Avoid by Susan C. Daffron The ultimate goal of...

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. ...

This week, I have been picking strawberries from my garden. Picking organically grown strawberries right from your very own patch is one of life's most joyful summer experiences. In much more nerdy news, we've updated the  Self-Publishers Online Conference Web site with information about how you can get the entire 2009 conference on CD or as individual downloadable audios. Check out the product information on the SPOC 2009 page at: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/spoc2009.aspx I'd be the first one to tell you that putting on a conference like SPOC was a lot of work, much like publishing...

Although I don’t use Twitter often, yesterday, I wandered over there and took at look at the happenings in the Twitterverse. Much to my surprise, I had a lovely red notice on my page that said my account was suspended. If you click the link on the big red box on your page, you find a page, which I now know contains the “Foul Owl.” (Not to be confused with the Fail Whale, which is equally useless, yet different.) The Foul Owl told me that I could look at the Twitter status to see if something was...

This week, I took a drive down south to Spirit Lake for a photo shoot with Cami the Wooly White Dog. If you're on Facebook, "friend" me and then you can check out a few of the pictures from the shoot. Cami has quite an expressive and occasionally hilarious face:  http://www.facebook.com/susandaffron. In other news, James just returned from a bike ride down to the mail box and brought back a package for me from the Apex Awards. It turns out Publishize won an Award of Excellence in the Books & Ebooks category. This award is the second one...

Today on my way into town, I met the UPS man who handed me the proof of my tenth book Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups. I haven't given it a really thorough once over yet, but it looks good so far. I think tomorrow I can log into Lightning Source, approve the proof, and put the book into production. Yay! I've just about finished the Web site for the book, so by the time it's available on Amazon, the Web site should be ready too. The basics are done, but...

At the moment, we are having a thunderstorm, which means the Big Dog is panting furiously. He really doesn't like storms. I confess that I don't either. Between storms and distractions, it's been one of those low-concentration days for me. I had hoped to send my book off to the printer, but it was not in the cards. As Scarlett O'Hara pointed out, "tomorrow is another day." Along the same lines, this week's newsletter is about meeting deadlines even when you're not having a stellar day. Enjoy! 5 Easy Ways to Jump Start Your...

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...

This week, the weather has been beautiful. I love this time of year. The last two weekends we've taken our kayaks out on the "big lake" (Lake Pend Oreille), and it's been great fun paddling around, watching wildlife, and soaking up lots of sun. When it's this nice, I confess it is really challenging to sit down and write much of anything. Even now, I'd rather be sitting on the back screened-in deck sipping a cold drink and listening to forest sounds. In fact, that sounds so good, I think I'll just go do that after sending this out. ...

There was a small delay in writing this week's newsletter, since I just completed the canine "neat feet" program. For those who don't have hairy dogs, breeds like golden retrievers and Samoyeds have huge tufts of fur that grow out of the bottom of their feet. At this time of year, all that footie fur collects sticky cottonwood seed pods and pine tree pitch. Obviously, walking around with forest junk attached to your feet is uncomfortable for the dogs, so they spend a lot of time chewing on their feet. This afternoon, I decided it was time...

This week, we have been doing things related to the end of the Self-Publishers Online Conference. I've sent out many emails and am getting the artwork and audios together for the fulfillment house for those who purchased CDs. If you were able to attend, you know it was an amazing 3-day publishing education. If you were there, I'd appreciate it if you could fill out our quick survey when you get a chance. We'd like to know what you thought, since we do plan to run the conference again next year. In other news, on Friday I...

Greetings from all of us at SPOC world headquarters ;-) The conference wrapped up with loads of information about how to take your book and build your business, info-products, speaking career--all to make more revenue. If you joined us, you heard some big name gurus of the writing and publishing world giving the "how-to's" for getting your message out there--lucratively.  Here are a few gems of what they shared, plus, in case you missed a call, how you can get...

Greetings from all of us at SPOC world headquarters ;-) The second day of our conference, "Promotion Day," brought more gems and insights. If you joined us, you heard some big name gurus of the writing and publishing world giving the "how-to's" for marketing and promoting your book. Here are a few gems of what they shared, a preview of what's coming today on "Platform Day," plus, in case you missed a call, how you can get the audio downloads, CDs...

Greetings from all of us at SPOC world headquarters ;-) What an amazing first day of our online conference we had! If you joined us, you listened to some big name gurus of the writing and publishing world. Here are a few gems of what they shared, plus, in case you missed a call, how you can get the audio downloads, CDs plus other must-have items for the soon-to-be author. ** Dan Poynter - "Confirming Subjects & Finding Markets" How to research your subject matter and draft your marketing plan ...

SPOC, the Self Publishers Online Conference, takes place this week and Friday, the final day of the conference, ends with a bang with speakers Michael Port, Jill Lublin, Patrick Snow, Melanie Jordan and Donna Kozik. It's free to attend the online conference - all you have to do is register here: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ Click the Register button in the upper right-hand side. When you register, you can see that you can choose from several ...

SPOC, the Self Publishers Online Conference, takes place next week and next Thursday May 14 brings another panel of publishing experts to the calls including Shel Horowitz, Brian Jud, Sandra Beckwith, Penny Sansevieri and Carol White & Debi Flora. It's free to attend the online conference-all you have to do is register here:  http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ Click the Register button in the upper right-hand side. When you register, you can see that you can choose from several options. Attending live is free. If you want more...

SPOC, the Self Publishers Online Conference, kicks off next week on Wednesday, May 13, with an exciting slate of speakers including gurus of the industry Dan Poynter, Peter Bowerman, Matthew Bennett, Jacqueline Church Simonds and Susan Daffron & James Byrd. It's free to attend the online conference-all you have to do is register here: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ Click the Register button in the upper right-hand side. When you register, you can see that you can choose from several options. Attending live...

Greetings from all of us at SPOC world headquarters ;-) SPOC, the Self-Publishers Online Conference, is a virtual online publishing conference that starts next week. It features presentations by Dan Poynter, Michael Port, Peter Bowerman and other publishing experts. If you haven’t officially registered for the conference, you can here: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com Click the Register button in the upper right-hand side. When you register, you will see that you can choose from several options. Attending live is free. If you want more goodies you can read about the paid options on the Attendees page. After you’ve...

Today, I'm working on a lot of stuff for the Self-Publishers Online Conference, which is next week. I've been busily setting up pages for the Exhibit Hall, testing conference call providers, and telling other people about it. I'll be honest, I'm really tired and I've had a sinus headache all day. Bleh. We all have bad days sometimes. Acknowledging that sometimes work and being in business can be difficult happens to be the subject of this week's article. Enjoy! Key to Success #10: Don't Give Up! by Susan C. Daffron Accept the fact that...

Today I spent much of the day gathering head shots and updating the SPOC Web site pages with the line up of speakers. I don't think James has worked his magic on it and updated the live site yet, but in the next day or so if you visit... http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ ...you'll find that along with Dan Poynter, Sandra Beckwith, Shel Horowitz, and Brian Jud, we've now also signed up Peter Bowerman, Matthew Bennett, Debi Flora, Melanie Jordan, Jill Lublin, Michael Port, Penny Sansevieri, Jacqueline Church Simonds, Patrick Snow, and Carol White to speak. If you are...

Today's newsletter topic is rather timely since I just returned from a trip. In addition to attending a business conference, I also spent some quality time with my sister and father. We had a lot of fun. I even got carded at the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. (It was kind of dark I guess.) In honor of my sister's birthday, I also baked her a Boston Cream Pie (which I assume she is still enjoying, since it was rather a large cake). More proof that life is about a lot more than business. I encourage you...

I'm getting ready to fly off to Baltimore tomorrow for the Bliss Factor conference. One of the downsides of rural life is that we are 1.5 hours from the airport. So I have to leave here at 3:30 am to catch my morning flight out of Spokane. I'm thinking traffic will be light at least. In other news, we've uploaded new pages to the  Self Publishers Online Conference site with information about speakers we've lined up so far. After I get back we need to go through more speaker proposals, but I can tell you right now, it's going...

This week's big news is that registration for the Self-Publishers Online Conference is now open. So a big nerdy yay to James for making it happen! Check it out at: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ As you can see, the conference is free to attend. (There are paid options too if you want downloads and other goodies like bling from vendors.) We already have 5 speakers lined up for sure and have a few "maybes" out there too. We also have been talking to a lot of businesses in the publishing industry about exhibiting--everyone from printers to book designers. It's exciting! ...

This week, once again I'm watching the snow fall. I told James that the big April Fool's joke here in Idaho is that it is spring. I'm still harboring hope that I really will see my garden again someday. In much better news, last week I found out that I will be leaving the snow at least for a few days in April. I won (yes, WON!) a contest to attend the Bliss Factor conference that will be held in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference focuses on how you can craft a business that helps you live a life...

Once again it is snowing. I have to say that at the end of March, I'm kind of done with snow. By April, I will have totally and completely lost my sense of humor about snow. In much better news, last week we finished the Web site for the Self-Publishers Online Conference (SPOC), which will be happening in May. We're recruiting speakers, so if there is someone you would like to hear, please let us know. You can read more about the conference and sign up for the SPOC newsletter here: http://www.selfpublishersonlineconference.com/ Today's article answers another question...

Today, I'm not feeling well, so I'll be brief. I'm having one of those days where everything seems extra difficult, particularly writing, so typos are undoubtedly inevitable. My apologies. However, tomorrow after I've had a good night's sleep, I'll be ready for our first Publishize Teleseminar, which is called "How to Set Up a Book Launch Campaign for Your Book." This topic was the one most requested by all of you in our mini-survey. To get notification of our Teleseminars, sign up for the free Logical Expressions newsletter at http://newsletter.logicalexpressions.com. If you've got questions on what's...

I was just finishing up my notes for a teleseminar I'm doing with Linda Joy Myers today at the National Association for Memoir Writers (NAMW). Linda Joy's specialty is helping people become healed and transformed through creativity, art, and writing. I love the work she does and I'm thrilled that I've had the opportunity to get to know her. My NAMW teleseminar is called "Understanding Your Publishing Choices". Business and life are full of choices and almost invariably they relate to your goals. If you want to publish a book that will be in every bricks and mortar Barnes...

A big "thank you" to everyone who answered last week's 2-question survey. The teleseminar topic winner is "How to Set Up a Book Launch Campaign for Your Book." The teleseminar will be held on Thursday March 19 at 10 am Pacific time, so mark your calendar. (We'll send out call in information before the call.) We also got some great feedback from Publishize readers on other topics that are troubling them. Since we're only going to do one teleseminar a month, I thought I'd address some of the topics as articles too. A couple of people had comments...

Over the weekend, James and I did what we call "big picture thinking." We talked about a number of ways we can better serve our clients. One thing we decided is to start doing free monthly teleseminars just for readers of this newsletter. Publishing is a lot of work and people learn in different ways. So for those of you who like to listen and ask questions, here's your big chance to talk to us. The first teleseminar is on Thursday March 19 at 10 am Pacific time, so mark your calendar. (We'll send out call in information before the...

During the winter, it's incredibly quiet outside because most of the birds fly south or go into hiding. Whatever they do, they stop making noise. Over the last couple of days, even though it's been dreary and gray, I've been starting to think that the worst of winter may be behind us. The avian forest dwellers are starting to tweet and chirp again. When the birdies are happy, it makes me happy. This week's article is more about business than publishing, but something I'm constantly trying to explain to aspiring self-publishers is that publishing is not all about...

In addition to never having to worry about being laid off, a cool thing about working for yourself is that you can declare your birthday a corporate holiday. So tomorrow, Logical Expressions is closed because we're celebrating. (Regarding being laid off, this morning James quipped, "why would I lay off myself?) Tomorrow will probably be a completely computer-free day. James has talked of maybe making homemade bagels. We'll see. All I know is that it will be a day of doing pretty much whatever I want, which is as it should be. (Hey, if you can't do whatever you...

I heard from my editor that she will be done copyediting my next book in the next couple of days. Somehow, in between various client projects, I need to fit in layout and cover design for my own book (number 10). With help from the very cool folks participating in the 90 Day Book Challenge, I have finalized the title. It will be called Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups. Speaking of the 90 Day Book Challenge, we had a few people ask if they could sign up late. The answer is...

Here in the backwoods, it's been cold. I know it's January and it's supposed to be cold, but I have to say that the ice situation on our driveway is getting me down. Yesterday, I drove down to the mailbox (which is about 1/2 mile away) because it was busy blizzarding. On my way back, I almost got stuck halfway up our driveway. How embarrassing. Our driveway is not steep or long. My car is all-wheel drive, so normally it can get through almost anything. However, yesterday about 4 inches of snow was sitting on top of a...

As some of you know, I've been doing a lot of teleseminars in these first few weeks of January. We did ones called: Get Your Book Done (with Donna Kozik) Sneak Peek into Book Coaching (with Lisa Manyon) Why Becoming a Book Author Can Change Your Life (with Gina Bell) All of them talk about our 90 Day Book Challenge which starts on Monday. If you are thinking about writing a book, this course is a great opportunity to make it happen. (If you have questions, don't be shy...ask me)...

Hi everyone... I wanted to let you know about a call I'm doing with Gina Bell today at 1 pm (Pacific time). You can sign up here:   http://www.logicalexpressions.com/Teleseminar_gina.htm Why Becoming a Book Author Can Change Your Life: Susan Daffron talks to Gina Bell about the many ways becoming a book author can have a huge impact on your business and your life. Susan is the author of 10 books, 9 of which she self-published over the past three years. Gina and Susan...

Right now, I am happily uploading a 9MB audio file. I am thrilled to be able to do this ostensibly boring task because for the last 3 weeks or so our satellite Internet has had a BIG problem. It has been somewhat agonizing to do things like send this newsletter on our backup 26.4 dial-up connection. Today, James installed a new transmitter on our satellite dish and it seems to have solved the problem. (Or at least helped a whole lot - cross your fingers!) In other news, I'm doing a call with Lisa Manyon on Friday. If you've...

I hope you all had a great holiday season. We mostly watched it snow. In fact, it has pretty much snowed non-stop for several weeks. Fortunately for us, we're snuggled up in our nice warm house which has a very pointy roof, so it won't collapse under the snow load. (The recent rain on top of the snow has caused a number of buildings to collapse in this area.) Since we haven't exactly been getting out much (except to snowshoe on our forest trails with our dogs), we've been busy plotting out plans for 2009. One of them...

Today, I found out that Hope Clark of Funds for Writers fame selected me for the "Honest Scrap Award." I did a Google search on it and I'm not sure where it started, but the idea is that you share honest bits of information about yourself. The award has two components. You have to first list 10 honest things about yourself (and make them interesting), and second present the award to seven other bloggers. Here are 10 honest things about me: 1. I have a treadle sewing machine and enjoy sewing on it more than...

Thanks to everyone who participated in the book launch for Publishize last week. We sold a bunch of books! In fact, we sold WAY more autographed copies that I was expecting, so I actually ran out of books here and had to wait for another order to arrive from the printer. Fortunately, people were incredibly nice when I wrote them and said their book might not make it to them by Christmas. I just mailed out a bunch today and am out again. So I'm waiting for yet another book order to arrive from Lightning Source (our printer)....

As promised, here's the information about the special book promotion that is happening today only - December 11, 2008. The book is my ninth book and it's called Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book that Promotes Your Expertise.  As many of you know, I self-published 8 books in less than 18 months. Publishize is filled with all my best self-publishing secrets and online book marketing tips. Today only we are offering free shipping on the book and a slew of bonuses from many people in the publishing and business world. You'll find audio and print bonuses...

This week's article is about how we are doing the Publishize book launch. FYI, today is the big day. I'll be blogging later with more information, but basically, we'll be offering free shipping on the book and a slew of bonuses from many people in the publishing and business world. I've collected audio and print bonuses from Marcia Yudkin, Shel Horowitz, Fern Reiss, Sheri McConnell, and a bunch of other people. Check out http://www.publishize.com/ today December 11 and you'll see the incredible list of freebies folks are offering for people who buy the book. I'd like to say a huge...

While I was at the PubWest publishing show in November, I was interviewed by Chris Kenneally about my book writing process, IdeaWeaver, and of course, our new book Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise. You can listen here: BTB #73: Advice for Accidental Authors Susan Daffron shares "provocative and insightful advice on what it takes to make a publisher out of an author during at break at the annual PubWest Conference. Technorati Tags: susan daffron,pubwest,ideaweaver,publishize,book publishing,self-publishing,authors,logical expressions

Today, we had a great preview call with our friend Donna Kozik for a new program we're offering together called "Promote a Book in a Weekend" on December 13 and 14. In one weekend, participants will get our help in creating a custom Web site for their book (or upcoming book), which they can later modify themselves, just like a blog. The "virtual" event combines our Self-Publisher Book Web Site with a lot of copywriting help, advice, and moral support, so people get the site DONE. Although we'll be talking books on the weekend of the...

On Monday, I mailed out copies of Publishize to all the great people who provided endorsements for the book, and of course, family and friends who get copies of all our books. (Yes, Dad, it's in the mail!) It was a big postal event, and it's a good thing a nice man held the door open for me as I lumbered in with my heavy bags full of books. In other news, I just found out that an Associated Press story that mentions our weird 1996 Thanksgiving is online. Here's a link from one of the papers that picked...

Today I'm headed down to the PubWest publishing conference which is being held in Portland, Oregon. I'll also get to see two of my cousins, which is great because they are extremely cool women. Of course, I'll have some of the very first copies of my new Publishize book on hand too ;-) At this point, I'm really looking forward to driving far far away from my computer, because yesterday, I spent an extraordinary amount of time dealing with problem Word documents for a client. Let's just say that today's article is extremely appropriate for these folks. Big...

Today, I was hoping to receive the proof copy of my Publishize book, but it turns out it's somewhere between here and La Vergne, Tennessee. Big sigh. They say patience is a virtue, right? Anyway, the good news is that apparently my files worked perfectly, so all is well with the printer. We like that!  Although I generally hate working on the weekend, I did spend quite a bit of my Sunday dealing with final printouts and changes to the book so I can attest to the fact that really getting a book out the door requires focus.  ...

At long last, it appears I have moved into the necessary Zen mental indexing space and am rapidly cruising along furiously adding index entries to my Publishize book. Because I'm taking it to a publishing conference in mid-November, the book has to go to the printer this week. I have received some really great endorsements for the book and I just finalized the cover. It's all looking really good. Speaking of the book, this week's article expands on a section toward the end that I wrote recently. If you would like to read the article, please use this link:...

Over the years, I have saved many of the emails we receive through the contact forms on our various Web sites. In addition to our main Logical Expressions site, all of our article sites (The Publishize Newsletter, Computor Companion magazine, Logical Tips, Pet Tails etc., have comment forms that appear on the article pages. I receive contact form emails from at least one of our sites almost every day. Most of them are from happy people who have solved a problem thanks to one of our articles. If there's such a thing as karma, we have points...

This week's big news is that when I went to the mailbox the other day, I found the August issue of Redbook magazine in there. This issue is mighty exciting to me because it has an article about how and why we started Logical Expressions. (Our version of the story is here.) If you're a Redbook subscriber, check out page 138. The title of the article is called "Trust Your Gut. Change Your Life." You'll see a huge 2-page spread with my picture. Let me just say right now that the photographer Erika Larsen is extremely talented. I don't...