Do You Have a Book in You?

#NSNC16 – Los Angeles

By Cathy Turney
NSNC Conference Committee

Authoring a published book is your passport to greater professional recognition. Doesn’t matter if it’s traditionally published or self-published. Well, Random House does carry some caché. The fact that you wrote a book that has an ISBN number, a Library of Congress number, that can be ordered online (it doesn’t even matter if it’s in bookstores), elevates you.

But how do you get there? Most authors encounter some of these challenges:

• Not enough time to write
• Not sure what to write about
• Believe they can’t afford to publish

Well, all your concerns will be addressed and solved (!) in the self-publishing seminar at NSNC16, the columnists’ annual conference, this year in Los Angeles, June 24-26. Details on the conference are at columnists.com

In his knock-your-socks off presentation, Gordon Burgett will show you how to sell 75 percent of your articles before writing them. And then repurpose them and sell them over and over. To quote Gordon: “How many journalists are ever taught how to strategize and pre-sell?” Twenty minutes, and you’ll know the magic. The columns you write become your book.

Burgett is the author of 47 books including Niche Publishing: Publish Profitably Every Time and How to Get Your Book Published in Minutes and Marketed Worldwide in Days. A highly sought-after speaker, Mr. Burgett has presented over 2,500 four-hour seminars entitled “How to Sell 75% of Your Freelance Writing.” He has been the president and chief executive officer of Communication Unlimited for 34 years.

Then Howard VanEs will explain how to get your book onto Amazon and have it become number one in its category.

Mr. VanEs is the president of Let’s Write Books Inc., specializing in providing publishing and book marketing services to independent authors. He has written and published 28 books of his own, many of which have been number one in their categories on Amazon.

In the inspiring words of Michael Larsen, founder of the San Francisco Writers Conference: “The phrase ‘unpublished author’ is obsolete. All you need to be published is a manuscript.”

You have more options for getting your work published at less cost than ever: e-books, print-on-demand, podcasts, blogs and websites.

A book that serves readers’ needs for information, inspiration, beauty and entertainment well enough is unstoppable. Readers, not publishers, are the gatekeepers.

There are more subjects for you to write about than ever. There’s a book in just about any idea that excites you enough to want to write about it.

You don’t have to quit your day job.

Because it’s easier to promote nonfiction than fiction, it’s easier for nonfiction writers to become best sellers, especially if they have national visibility.

Self-published authors are on best-seller lists. A growing number of ebooks are going viral and hitting best-seller lists.

Many aspiring authors freeze at the thought of producing a 150-250 page book. Well, fear not. Per Nina Amir, best-selling author and book coach, “Short is the new long … and books can be 16 to 100 pages in length or 2,500 to 30,000 words.” Today’s readers want their nonfiction information quickly and concisely without a lot of filler. No one has extra reading time.

This seminar, at #NSNC16 – Los Angeles, will empower you to write and publish your book.

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Cathy Turney is author of Laugh Your Way to Real Estate Sales Success. Email her at Cathy@cathyturney.com, and check out her blog Cathy Turney Writes. Follow her on Twitter at @CathyTurneyLafs and at Facebook.

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This piece first was published in the April 2016 issue of The Columnist, the monthly membership newsletter of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.