The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

Motivation

What Is Your Selling Mindset?

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Are you excited about selling your books or afraid?

Most writers are thrilled to see their books earn big sales on Amazon. But I can count on one hand the number of writers who’ve said to me, “I enjoy marketing.” For many writers, marketing, aka asking people to buy your book, makes them cringe. Why? This is a question on which you want to spend some serious time to discover the answer.

This dread (or excitement) is what I term your selling-mindset.

Possible Reasons of a Negative Selling-Mindset

Reason number 1: Selling often means getting in front of people in some way, and you’d rather not be seen.

Why not? Are you afraid of something? If so, what? It might be you’d feel rejected if they say no. I want you to dig deep for an answer. If you don’t, that fear is going to continue to control you, and you’ll always struggle with selling your books.

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Are you feeling overwhelmed with publishing your book?

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Dealing with overwhelm

Publishing a book can pile on the overwhelm. Let’s face it, there are a lot of things to be done besides writing the book.

Actually any project can seem overwhelming when we consider all that must be done and think we need to do it all at the same time.

A good method to deal with overwhelm is to break your project into smaller pieces. A supervisor I once had taught me this. She called it the swiss cheese method—poking little holes in the project one at a time.

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Morning Pages – Creative Dribble or Creative Genius

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The Artist's Way and doing morning pages

I recently started the practice of writing morning pages every day before I begin my work hours. I asked myself a time or two whether they were a useful tool or a waste of time.

You’re probably asking, “What are morning pages?”

They’re a tool created by author Julia Cameron. She discusses them in her bestselling book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. The book is a 12-week course in creative recovery. She says morning pages are:

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How To Fail Miserably At Marketing While Still Having Wild Success

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Today’s post is from author Chad Campese. Chad is a father, husband, police officer, blogger, and author of the book Confession of a Christian Fraud. He holds a BA in Christian Counseling and psychology, is heavily involved in peer support and recovery when it comes to first responders, and is an expert in living his life and faith as a fraud. These days he simply relies on the leading of the Spirit as he tries to slowly and purposefully take life one day at a time.

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The Subtle Lie of Only One Person

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Dispelling the subtle lie of "if only one person is changed." You can reach the crowd.

Last month over at DebraLButterfield.com I spoke about some of the subtle lies Satan plants in our hearts without us even knowing it. And in actuality, I’m on a cleaning binge. I’m working to clean out the lies I have unwittingly embraced and that have kept me from enjoying the abundant life Jesus promised.

A lie I’d like to peel apart today is “If only one person is changed by __________, then it was worth all it.” You fill in the blank. Changed by:

  • The books I write
  • The blog posts I write
  • The prayers I utter
  • The time I spend leading and teaching a Bible study.

What would be on your list?

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The Eternal Perspective on Building a Platform

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concert platform

Updated August 16, 2021.

You mean I have to build a platform at the same time as I write my book? you ask.

Yes.

And as I look at what September, October, and November hold for me—teaching at 3 writers conferences, a trip for book research, finishing book 2 of my Her Inheritance series, maintaining two blogs, launching new CrossRiver books, and somewhere in between all that, paying the bills, cooking meals, shopping for groceries, doing laundry, and keeping my apartment clean—I totally understand the writer’s dilemma of finding time not only to write, but also to build one’s platform.

The publishing world demands authors have a platform. Without it, it’s almost impossible to get picked up by a traditional publisher. They want those numbers up in the thousands, because after all, those numbers represent potential book buyers, and for most publishers that’s really what it’s all about—selling books.

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The Pandemic’s Menagerie: A Writer’s Adaptation in Chaos

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Geary Smith author

Today’s post is by author Geary Smith. Geary has been writing for children and young adults for over 35 years. His work has been published in such venues as Highlights for Children, Child Life, McGraw-Hill, ProQuest, Kids Imagination Train, and many other publications. He is the current mayor of Mexia, Texas, and President of Region IX of Texas City Councils. He has a B.S. in Psychology from Morehouse College and M.Ed. from Stephen F. Austin University.

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.” -Bruce Lee

It was March 23, 2020, when I felt the painful sting of the pandemic stick my soul and spirit. My future plans, trips, conferences, and other social interactions to sharpen my writing skills were all cancelled one after the other.

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What’s Involved in Publishing a Book?

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I am a writer. What's involved in publishing my book?

I just want to write. I hear that often from writers I work with.

That’s great, and it’s not hard to do at all. Simply sit down at the computer (or with pen and paper) and write.

But be honest with yourself. You want to publish that book. And now we enter the arena of what’s involved in publishing a book.

What you really mean to say is you want to write and let someone else do the work to get your book published and marketed.

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