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MaxLife News
Volume 10, Issue 13
October 15, 2010
In This Issue

The Seven Biggest Publishing Myths That Will Kill Your Book Project

Paying Attention to Your Energy

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes is a global premier business, money and relationship coach; an author, and an international speaker. He is the founder of Gary Barnes International, dedicated to helping people create wealth in all areas of life. 

Gary believes anyone can lead an empowered life, no matter what their circumstances are. He has built three successful businesses from the ground up. To do this, he developed principles and tools that helped him increase his business 2000% over a three-year period.
 
He also understands dealing with adversity - he has fought life- threatening illness and won. He believes that your worst day is the day you meet the man or woman you could have been.  It's a choice.  That's why he's dedicated his life to helping people maximize their lives and their businesses through workshops, teleconferences and individual coaching. His mission in life is to make a difference and to empower everyone he connects with.
Bubba's Networking Corner
Look for ways to partner with other businesses and non-profits that connect with your mission statement. Connected energies gives multiplied not added results.
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Greetings!

Welcome to another issue of MaxLife News. I hope you had a great summer. Now that fall and the last quarter of 2010 is here, I have a question for you. What are you doing to finish 2010 strong? Are you going to write your book, create a new product, and maybe even increase your marketing to connect with more people? :)

My challenge to you is to decide what your results will be by the end of the year. Then create an action plan to make those desires a reality. If you would like to share your goals with me, you can email me at gary@garybarnesinternational.com.

Also watch for a special release of a brand new 13-week e-course, On Purpose Results: Maximizing Results Fast. It will only be available for a short time (Oct 18 - Oct 22). I'm looking forward to hearing your stories! Until next time ...

To your success,


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The Seven Biggest Publishing Myths That Will Kill Your Book Project
Susan Daffronby Susan Daffron, Logical Expressions

Countless people want to write books, but how many actually do? Many authors are their own worst enemy. They buy into a lot of myths about book publishing, which stops them in their tracks. You can realize your dream of being a published author if you simply don't buy into these tired myths.

1. No time.
"It takes forever to write a whole book. I don't have enough time!"
You don't "find" time; you make time. Yes, people are busy, but if you have time to goof around chatting on Twitter or watch the latest episode of the Biggest Loser, you have plenty of time to write a book. The key to actually finishing a book is to break it up into manageable chunks. If you think of a book as simply a series of articles, the project is a lot less intimidating. Spend one or two hours per week writing a 1,000 word article and in a year you have a book.

2. No agent.
"I have to find an agent or get a big publisher to pick up my book."
If you opt to self-publish a book, you don't need an agent or a big publisher. To get an agent or a publisher, you have to write a book proposal, which is essentially a big marketing plan for the publisher. If you are going to go to all the work of figuring out who will buy the book and how you plan to market it, why not just write the book and sell it yourself? When you self-publish, you keep all the profits and retain control of the project too. Why settle for a paltry "royalty," when you can keep all the money?

3. No money.
"It's really expensive."
Thanks to dramatic improvements in technology, self-publishing a book is vastly less expensive than it used to be. Our books are profitable almost from the moment they are published because we don't have to tie up a lot of money in inventory. Now you can have books printed one at a time only when they are sold. That in conjunction with cost effective online marketing means you can spend less and make more.

4. No fame.
"I'm not famous enough and don't have the right credentials to write a book."
If professors and actors were the only ones writing books, there would be a lot more boring books in the world. You have life experiences and perspectives that make your writing different from anyone else's. Just because umpteen diet books have been written in the past doesn't mean they don't still sell. For every doctor putting out a health book, there's at least a thousand others by people with no medical training.

5. No talent.
"I'm not a good enough writer."
Here's a secret: hire an editor. No writing is perfect. Smart writers hire great editors to make their books the best they can be. If you self-publish, the most important money you can spend is on hiring an editor (or more than one) to work on your book. Never skimp on editing. Everyone needs an editor, including you.

6. No exclusive.
"There are already too many books on my topic."
The key to successful publishing in a crowded marketplace is finding a new take on the subject. Look for "holes" in the coverage that you can fill. Maybe you have a new slant on an old topic. Or your book can be targeted to a specific group of people. Although there are countless books on fundraising, my book Funds to the Rescue: 101 Fundraising Ideas for Humane and Animal Rescue Groups is the only book that is specifically targeted to its niche market.

7. No knowledge.
"Book publishing is really hard and I don't know how!"
Like anything else, publishing can be learned. The first step is to educate yourself about the publishing industry. You wouldn't open a restaurant without learning something about the food business, yet people often jump into book publishing with their eyes firmly shut. My book Publishize: How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book explains how we profitably published our ten books with little money out of pocket. We also offer training courses at http://www.SelfPubU.com which give you more personal guidance as you make the transition from newbie writer to published author.

If you really want to become a published author, don't let fear-based myths get in your way. Publishing a book isn't brain surgery. Armed with information and expert support from editors and other publishing pros, you can do it!
Paying Attention to Your Energy
Karen Schatzby Karen Schatz, Virtually With You

In Gary's group coaching call in September, the discussion of running out of energy came up.  Sonia asked the question "What do you do when you have a client who comes to you and they're just out of gas, they're just out of time, they're out of energy, they feel maxed out and they don't know how to find any more time or any more energy?"  I thought to myself, "That's me.  They're talking about me." 

In early July, I took on working with a client whose project was a seasonal project.  I thought at the time that this would be a perfect fit into my schedule but as the weeks unfolded, I found that the project was so time-consuming that it was pushing out all the good things in my life.  It was taking over my life and energy and draining me to the point that I was becoming miserable.  I was so out of balance that I couldn't see how to get it back in the foreseeable future.  Because I felt a sense of obligation to seeing this project through to the end, bailing out on this client in the middle of the season was not an option but I had to come up with a solution in order to protect myself from falling completely apart. 

It's funny how you hear the messages you need to hear when you're ready to hear them.  My first message came to me through this call with Gary and Sonia.  I remember Gary asking us to ask the question "Does this event or activity take me towards my vision or does this activity take me away from my vision?"  At first, when I decided to work with this client, I was sure it was a fit for me and was in alignment with my vision.   But as the project unfolded and the realities of the time requirements revealed itself, I began to feel differently.  By the time this call had occurred, I was officially miserable and wanted to run far, far away from this project but, as I mentioned earlier, that wasn't an option.

The second message came to me in a conversation with this very client I was working for.  She and I were having a discussion about passion and how important it is to have a passion for the work you are doing.  I remember the training I received as I was starting my VA business and passion was a topic we talked about often.  Passion is what drives our energy.  Without passion, we cannot stay focused on what is important to us.  It's what gives us the energy to bounce out of bed in the morning and look forward to our day.  Have you ever noticed how drained you feel when you don't have a passion for something?  It becomes a chore - a laborious task at hand.  Out of our responsible nature, we may perform the task but the energy behind it is slow as molasses and it feels like we're pushing through mud up to our hips to get through it.

So, how was I going to deal with the state I was in?  Well first, a good pity party or mental temper tantrum always seems to be my first response.  Don't know why but it just feels good to acknowledge how bad the situation feels to me.  Once that is over with, I then tune into my vision.  My definition of a vision is the 'ideal life I can live if it is achievable'.   And achievability is born out of conceivability.  W. Clement Stone says "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."  And then I ask myself the question Gary suggested "Does this event or activity take me towards my vision or does this activity take me away from my vision?" 

By this point, the answer to this question for my current situation was that it was taking me away from my vision.  So now I'm left with the final question, "How do I create the outcome I truly want?"  My solution this time was to speak honestly to my client about how this is not a good fit for either of us and to ask her to be open to the possibility of renegotiating our arrangement so that I can see this project through to the end and still preserve my time that I can give to it.  For the client, I wasn't letting her down by abandoning the project and we worked out a new arrangement that felt good to both of us.  She shared with me that she appreciated my honesty and integrity to find a new solution.

As small business owners, we all have a desire to explore opportunities that hopefully support our vision.  However, there are those occasions when an opportunity turns out to be a bad choice.  My advice is don't let it stop you.  Don't give up on your dreams or the life you want to create for yourself.  First, take the time to acknowledge where you're at.  Second, remember where you're headed.  Third, learn what you can from this experience that will strengthen you as a person and a business owner.   Fourth, give yourself permission to set boundaries for yourself that will preserve your energy and restore the balance back into your life.  And finally, understand and know that freeing up negative energy in your life will allow for better opportunities to fill up that space.  When I made this decision, the energy shifted and now wonderful opportunities are flowing my way again!