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My favorite tip is a simple one – the “elevator speech”. Whether you are a first-time publisher or a major house is publishing your book, every author needs an -”elevator speech”-. Think of this as the verbal business card for you and your book. What’s the first question you get when you sit down at a restaurant? “What would you like to drink?” What is the first question you get as an author by everyone you meet, “What is your book about?”

We refer to this pitch as an elevator speech because an elevator ride may be all the time you have to impress someone with your book. Because you wrote the book you are the expert. In fact you are the only one that can truly describe what you have written. Think of this speech as a 30 – second sound bite. While remaining true to your material, what concepts would motivate people to buy your book? People want to know what is in it for them, so what will they get by reading your book? Make these points simple and clear. While you are considering your options, imagine offering them coffee, tea, or water, instead of the whole juice bar. Write one or two sentences that capture the value your book offers. Initially forget trying to explain the finer points.

Jari Holland Buck, author of Hospital Stay Handbook: A Guide to Becoming a Patient Advocate for Your Loved Ones used the following as her elevator speech: “You and your loved ones deserve the best health care and to be treated right at hospitals. Hospital Stay Handbook offers practical suggestions and spiritual guidance to help you advocate for the health care you need.”

John English, author of The Little Book on Relationship used this for his elevator speech: “The Little Book shows us that when we grasp the dynamics of working with relationships we gain energy, become healthier, and more aligned with our soul’s purpose.”

Dorothy Atalla, author of Conversations with the Goddess: Encounter at Petra, Place of Power uses this: “Conversations is filled with hope for women and the men who love them. Conversations offers a feminine perspective on the Divine that includes a historical perspective that encourages modern women in their activism.”

Once you feel certain that you have a workable elevator speech, practice in front of a mirror, with your spouse, with friends. Are you having a hard time saying the lines you’ve chosen? Try simplifying them, or switching them around. Keep working with them until you can recite them and feel completely relaxed while getting your message across. Remember to smile as you offer your speech. The friendliness and openness you convey with your speech will help people remember you and later buy your book. Remember, you are just getting your foot in the door. When you start from a point of brevity and clarity, there is always the possibility to open the door further, and then you can then expound on your favorite topic.

Do you wonder how someone puts together an entire book? Do you sometimes think you have something to say that others would benefit from hearing? Here’s the story of how “101 Ways to Love Your Job” came to be:

As a workshop leader, I get a lot of phone calls and emails and personal visits from employees. I started to notice that I would answer the same question, several times, in one week. I would also hear about trends, concerns and upsets in my workshops. Instead of answering these issues one by one, I decided it would be much more efficient to start a regular email tip weekly newsletter. I sent an announcement to all the employees in my organization, and said, “If you want to get these emails, let me know. I won’t be sending these to everyone, because some people may not be interested.”

In about one week, I had over 800 people on my list.

I sent out a little paragraph, a thought for the day, or a link to an article. Sometimes I got feedback, sometimes no one said anything about that week’s entry.

Fast forward five years later—-and I had 88 entries!

No one at my job had asked me to do this. I received no extra money for this activity. I did NOT think that one day these suggestions would be published. I just did it, because I saw a need.

Eventually, I added some more entries until I had 101 and submitted the draft to my publisher. While there were many changes, edits, rejected rewrites and a real struggle to find a title (which I’m still not happy with), it was still thrilling to have my work considered. While your “baby” may not look the way you envisioned in the end, you can still scratch a major entry off your bucket list. Whether you choose to publish traditionally, or go with the more accessible e-book format, you will know you put your unique wisdom out into the world.

Where can you fill a need? What do you know that can help someone who may be struggling? You never know how these actions might attract a publisher, employer or business owner. Don’t hold back just because you aren’t “famous” or because you think you need a Ph.D. Contribute for the sake of contributing. It feels great, by the way. Be sincere in your wish to make people’s lives better. You never know how it might turn out.

Have you ever wanted to print your own book? If this describes your aspirations, you are not alone! Many people would love to be full-time authors. While most of us will never be as famous as C.S. Lewis, we have many opportunities that writers in the past never had. The advances in technology have made it easy for anyone to print your own book! There are several steps and tips you will need in order to get your book published.

The first step is to write your book! If you are not sure what you want to write, take a look at the world around you. What is popular right now? What is it that people are reading? What do people want to know about? Do you want to write fiction or non-fiction books? There are many avenues to explore as you write your first book. The topic of your book is important. If you are trying to become well-known, it is probably best to start with an information book. Once you have name recognition, you can write about other topics that interest you. Writing your book is the first step to print your own book.

The second step to print your own book is to get people to review it. You should have people read it and give you their thoughts on it. If you are writing an info book, have experts in your field evaluate it. If you are writing a fiction novel, get people that read fiction books a lot to read it and give you their opinions on it. Take the recommendations that they make, and make the changes to your book. When your book is selling on the internet, you can have these people leave reviews on your book.

The third step to print your own book is to get an editor to proofread your work. Even if you think you are the best writer on the planet, you still need someone to review your work. Everyone has a different perspective on writing, so another writer can make recommendations about your writing and make changes for you. Most writers tend to be blind to their own grammar errors too, but an editor can help you make adjustments to your work. If you are serious about getting your book in front of major publishers, then having your book edited is imperative!

The fourth step to print your own book is come up with a cover for your new book. The cover should be something that grabs the attention of the reader, and it should be relevant to the topic. The book cover is the first impression your work of art gets from readers. A great cover can increase conversion rates from people who purchase your book online. A bad book cover can hurt conversion rates.

Everyone wants to have a book published, or everyone who wants to be a writer does. At some point most people do see this dream come true. With more access to self-publishing companies there is more of an ability to publish a book. For the most part you should publish a book.

The question is do you need to publish a book– as in what you have written is it worthy to have someone put it “out there” for readers to read? After all it is something that we want to have happen and we dream about it, for as long as we have been writing our book. below is a list of nine reasons why you should go with your dream.

1) Because you have worked very hard on this book: You need to publish your work when it has been edited at least twice by two different people.

2) Because you have something to share: It might not be important to the world, but it is important enough that you took the time to write it.

3) Because it is worth the time or money to have your work published: Even going the traditional route, you will still need to spend both time and money to publish your book. It takes time to improve and proof read your writing whatever the options you have.

4) Because you have experience in the publishing world: This is for people who have published something before, but want to publish again. This means in many ways a success in the publishing industry.

5) Because you can make money with a published book: The fact is that if you do not publish your book, you will never make money with your book. Making money publishing a book is a factor when considering reasons for book publishing.

6) Because you want to learn about the publishing industry: If you plan to self-publish, and have taken the steps to write a good quality book, then you will see a lot of success. This industry means that you will need to learn a lot of information fast. Also, you will be spending money, your own, and this means you need to learn about the self-publishing industry.

7) Because time is of the essence: Some material needs to be published, for example if there are people who are older who have helped with the book, such as when you are getting interviews in the genre of non-fiction. This means that publishing is critical.

Because you have the knowledge about what you have written in this book: To start a book is one thing that anyone can do, but to publish a book with the background knowledge of the topic you are writing on and will have books on is as important as anything else in the industry.