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...

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

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...

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As I mentioned last week, I went to the PubWest publishing conference in Portland. On the first day, the keynote speaker was John Ingram. As many of you know, Ingram is the largest book wholesaler in the world, and John is the Vice Chairman of Ingram Industries Inc. and serves as Chairman of Ingram Book Group, Lightning Source Inc., and Ingram Digital Group. Anyway, Lightning Source (aka LSI) is the printer I use. LSI is also John Ingram's "baby." In the early days, he says LSI was referred to as "John's Cute Idea." Of course, now many years and...

Last week, we selected the winner of our Dazzling Dogs Writing Contest. Maureen Lee won a license for IdeaWeaver for her story called "Scouting for Bashful," which involved Girl Scouts and a dog named Bashful. In the story, the 13-year old protagonist gets a lot more than just a box of Thin Mints; she got a new furry friend. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough stories that we loved to compile into a book (we need a minimum of 20). But we plan to run the contest again another time in the hopes that we can inspire more...

We've been getting a lot of subscribes to our Publishize newsletter lately. I'm finally writing down a lot of the stuff that has been in my head for the last few years about book publishing, and our Publishize readers benefit from all this hard-won knowledge. Plus, the price is right, since hey, it's a free newsletter ;-) In the last month, I've written these articles: Recycle Your Book into Multiple Products Once you have gone through the effort to develop enough knowledge and expertise to actually write a book, think about how you can reuse...

In our newsletter survey, an overwhelming percentage of people wanted more information on how to write copy. So, I decided to start with a basic truth that many copy experts seem to sort of gloss over: know thy customer. Write Compelling Copy with Your Customer in Mind Enjoy ;-)   Technorati Tags: publishize,daffron,copywriting,writing,publishing Technorati Profile

With the release of our new Logical Tips books, we have now published eight book ourselves (the four Logical Tips books, Happy Hound, Happy Tabby, Web Business Success, and Vegan Success.) This week's article in the Publishize newsletter offers a few reasons why we have opted to take the self-publishing route, after going about it the "traditional" way: A Few Good Reasons to Self Publish Your Book Enjoy!   Technorati Tags: web business,web business success,vegan success,vegan,pets,happy hound,happy tabby,publishize,logical tips,daffron,writing,dogs,cats,cookbook

Many people online seem to think that everything in cyberspace is just there for the taking (or more accurately the stealing). A friend of mine was outraged one time when she discovered a teacher actually had plagiarized her writing. It's no wonder kids seem to think that writing papers is basically an exercise in copy and paste. If you're a writer, your words are your livelihood, so this week's article in the Publishize Newsletter discusses issues related to copyrights. Be Careful with Your CopyrightsTechnorati tags: web business, marketing, online business, publishize, daffron, writers, writing, publishing

Periodically, we get email from someone who downloads the free trial of IdeaWeaver and really "gets it." The other day I got not one but TWO emails from a fan. (He sent through two different contact forms, just to be sure.) He said, "Wow! I've tried probably every outliner that previously existed and currently exists. What you have created is not just a variant of a standard outliner but a remarkable new way to approach writing. Additionally, you have designed it so that it is very user friendly. My kudos to the person(s) who came up with the idea and those...

In the continuing effort to promote IdeaWeaver, our creative writing tool for authors, we really wanted to get the product listed on the Windows Marketplace. If you aren’t familiar with it, the Windows Marketplace is where you land when you click your Windows XP Start menu and select “Windows Catalog.” I guess they changed the name somewhere along the way. We were hoping that we could get IdeaWeaver into the marketplace as a side-effect of it being Windows Platform Certified, but it turns out that there is no relationship or requirement there. Any Windows software can be listed on the Windows...

This week we found out that our IdeaWeaver software passed independent platform testing at Veritest for Windows Client Software and Microsoft Office. (VeriTest is the testing service of Lionbridge Technologies and performs the Microsoft Platform Test for ISV Solutions.) Passing the software certfication is also our first step toward becoming Microsoft Certified Partners. Note that if anyone has questions on IdeaWeaver, we do have a forum set up for it here: IdeaWeaver Forum Meanwhile, I just put a book into IdeaWeaver that I’m updating. So far, it seems to be working great. Technorati tags: daffron, ideaweaver, writing, writers, publishing

We’ve been working for quite a while on a new software product and last week, we told the world. Yes, IdeaWeaver is now available for free download at: IdeaWeaverSoftware.com We’ve been using it for a while and if you do a lot of writing (or even a little) it’s extremely helpful, especially if you’ve ever been stuck staring at the page wondering what to say. With IdeaWeaver, you can just start entering ideas as they float into your brain and organize them later. So you don’t have to fret about your “topic sentence” or structure, until you’re ready. You can set up topics and...