Been to a meetup lately? If not, why not?

I’d like to think I’m keeping pace with current Internet trends, but I keep discovering that I’m wrong. Take “meetups,” for example. They have been around for nine years; yet, I had never attended one until last night. Where had I been, I wondered, while my savvier peers were sitting around large tables, soaking up information, and networking like crazy?

Here are some of the things I learned (you probably know most of them already):

A meetup is

Just what it sounds like—a bunch of people who get together at a specified time and place to discuss a particular subject of interest to all of them. Wikipedia, which tends to be wordy, defines a meetup as “an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world.” Co-founded by Scott Heiferman, Matt Meeker, and Peter Kamali in 2001, meetups have become an international phenomenon. (Don’t you wish you had thought of it?)

How to find a meetup to attend

• Go to meetup.com, and enter your zip code or area of interest.
• Learn about one that sounds thought-provoking, and register online.
• Tag along with someone as a guest.
• Start your own meetup group.

You will benefit from a meetup by

• Learning more about a topic that interests you
• Meeting new people with similar interests
• Developing valuable contacts
• Letting people know you are and what you do

What to do at a meetup

• Observe the protocol before you start talking.
• Have your “elevator speech” prepared.
• Deliver it with confidence in a voice loud enough to be heard.
• Distribute business cards, promo materials, direct-mail pieces, etc.
• Participate in the discussion. Ask questions. Answer questions. Comment.

The meetup I attended is called “Tiny Business, Mighty Profits.” It was founded and conducted by Russ Henneberry, a dynamic marketing expert who knows a great deal about Web design, social networking, WordPress, and how to maintain the rapt attention of twenty-seven people for two hours without missing a beat.

No substitute for "face time"

The Internet is a fabulous connector of people. The world truly does become smaller when total strangers can view a video or Google a phrase and find the perfect person to provide just the service they need. My business would not exist without the World Wide Web. My only regret is that I don't have enough to time to surf all of the Web and social networking sites I'd like to.

My clients come from everywhere, and quite often our relationships are restricted to e-mail and phone calls. Despite the limitations of electronic communications, we do become close. This past weekend, however, I was reminded of how important it is meet my authors in person. It is a truly magical experience after all the disembodied conversations we have shared.

Rob (yes, that's his real name) and I met for the first time last Friday when I picked him up from the airport. We greeted each other like long-lost relatives and spent the weekend sharing meals, great conversation, and long hours of working on his book. I taught a writing class on Monday night, and Rob graciously agreed to share his experiences as a new author with my students.

They were enchanted. I could have explained for weeks on end what Rob conveyed in one short hour. No amount of theory is as real or convincing as hearing someone share what he has learned, often the hard way, on his way to becoming a published author.

In today's world, people—especially young people—spend a disproportionate amount of time talking to each other over the airwaves. They may think that's real communication, but from the perspective of someone who grew up having to share a phone with my whole family, it is a poor substitute for standing in the same space and actually looking at the person I'm talking to.

The Reluctant Web Master

"I will never design another Web site," I told my friend, Felicia, after I struggled though creating mine for Words To Live By and hers for Amazing Journey. Let me say at the outset that neither of these sites is going to win awards for originality or razzle-dazzle. That is OK with me.

Words-to-live-by.com was intended to introduce my new book and make it possible for people to buy it. Like most basic sites, it includes the book cover, the author's photo and bio, a description of the book, testimonials, and order and contact information. To those I added links to to my main Web site, blogs, a media center, and other books I've written. Felicia's turned out to have even more pages than mine.

"I am not a Web designer," I insisted when my friend Marti asked me to create her site. She was crestfallen; I gave in. She didn't want anything elaborate, she said, which was a great relief since "elaborate" is not in my limited range of abilities. The result was moodblitz.com.

What had not occurred to me was that designing these sites was the easy part of the process. Once they are created, they must be set up with a Web host and uploaded to a remote server. This involved a dozen phone calls, numerous user IDs and passwords, and navigating through a maze of directories and mysterious folders.

I confess that, while I am up to my eyelashes in computer technology, none of it comes naturally or easily to me. That I succeed in any my endeavors is something of a miracle; but with the help of Verio's amazing techs, my personal Web and Mac gurus, and just sheer tenacity on my part, somehow things come together.

I don't know exactly how I came to be the "Web master" for four Web sites, but in the wacky world of creative entrepreneurialism, that has become my newest set of responsibilities.

Deciding where to put my most precious resource—TIME

In my June 14th post, "Ready Made Marketing Plan," I explained how I constructed my plan for Words To Live By. I wrote:

"In the Promotion section of How to Write a Nonfiction Book are many suggestions for letting potential readers know about your book ... I copied and pasted the whole section into a new document, cut out all the superfluous words, and created a long list of brief, bulleted statements. Then I put each bulleted statement under one of my strategies."

The result was a very ambitious document—more a wish list than an actual "plan"—and, even when I wrote it, I never thought I could do every single thing on the list. I have a friend whose book came out at exactly the same time as mine. We had a book launch together, which was a delightful experience. We both sold several books. Then, I went back to work, and she went back to marketing her book. Comparing the amount of time each of us put into promoting our books forced me to sit down and reassess my priorities.

It's all about resources, especially the most finite of resources—time. How much do I have, and where do I want to spend it? I know. I have the same number of hours and minutes everybody else has. It's an old, well-worn argument, so I will spare you the calculations of exactly how much that is.

Even if we subtract the time we sleep and do all things involved in simply living, we end up with roughly the same amount of disposable time to spend as we choose. In my case, I can spend it marketing my book or marketing my business. Or, I can divide the available time in half or some other fraction, and try to do both. My strategies for marketing my book are as follows:

1. Increase my visibility and credibility on line
2. Increase my visibility and credibility off line
3. Drive traffic to my original Web site, WriteANonfictionBook.com

When I first developed these strategies, they were in no particular order. Now, I'm wondering if they should be. Which one is most important? The answer is definitely number 3. Numbers 1 and 2 should contribute to 3, because 3 is the way I earn my living. WriteANonfictionBook.com is all about helping authors by writing their books for them, guiding them through the book-writing process, or editing what they have written.

So, when I ask myself what takes precedence, it has to be my business. I love my book; and I want to let people know it exists, why they should read it, and where they can buy it. But that effort is a means to an end, not an end in itself. I teach people how to write books, but I always remind them that money is not the best reason to do it. Very few authors make enough from a single book to support themselves. It's sad but true.

This has been a one-woman exercise in brainstorming, which is often what blogging is all about. If you are reading this, you may be asking yourself similar questions. There is only so much disposable time in our lives. Where do you want to spend yours?

The Book Launch

Last night was the official book launch/signing for Words To Live By, which I shared with my friend Felicia Graber, author of Amazing Journey: Metamorphosis of a Hidden Child. The launch was held in the auditorium and atrium of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum & Learning Center. It was a lovely setting, and we were given the space because of Felicia's stature with the museum.

Despite all the books I've written over the years, this was the first such event I had ever been part of. There were about forty people there, most invited, and a few who read the long reviews of our books in the St. Louis Jewish Light, written by Editor Emeritus Bob Cohn. Old friends, former students, in-town family members, and professional colleagues were all in attendance. Between us, Felicia and I sold close to forty books.

Each of us gave a presentation praising the other (she went overboard) and read brief passages from our books. Then we cut our gorgeous cake and signed books. It was exactly as a book signing should go but rarely does. There were posters of our book covers, flowers, color-coordinated balloons, and many people shooting pictures.

The purpose of this post is to describe a single marketing event on a long, long list of things to do. I hope they won't all take this much preparation, but I know a few of them probably will. No matter how much effort goes into the process, this I know: Marketing pays off. Two of my friends had to call at the last minute to tell me they would be unable to attend because they had an amazing marketing opportunity. Who could say anything but, "Wow! Good for you. Congratulations."

So, on I go to the next item on my list. If anything really exciting occurs, I'll let you know. In the meantime, for those of you who were there last night and actually read these blog posts, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Ready-made Marketing Plan

Assuming you have been following these blog posts since November 2009, you have now been through all six steps in How to Write a Nonfiction Book: From Concept to Completion in 6 Months. A recent post contained a detailed promotional plan with three strategies and a long list of tactics to achieve them. Before I leave this topic, I want to explain how I developed my plan.

I began with three statements.

1. My book is about reflections on the writing life from a 40-year veteran.
2. My ideal reader is anyone who works (or wants to work) with words in his or her life and career.
3. My book's purpose is to motivate my ideal reader to take his or her career to the next level despite inevitable obstacles and setbacks.

The three strategies to achieve my book's purpose and reach my ideal reader are ...

1. to increase visibility and credibility on-line
2. to increase visibility and credibility off-line
3. to drive traffic to WriteANonfictionBook.com

In the Promotion section of How to Write a Nonfiction Book are many suggestions for letting potential readers know about your book. The question I asked myself was this: Would those suggestions work with my strategies? The answer is YES.

Here's what I did: I copied and pasted the whole section into a new document, cut out all the superfluous words, and created a long list of brief, bulleted statements. Then I put each bulleted statement under one of my strategies. I admit the plan is long, and I may never get to everything. On the other hand, it is thorough and organized. While I can't guarantee that every tactic will work with your strategies, I think most of them will fit somewhere.

This approach will give you a good start on your promotional plan, and you can always cull the list if it is too long. If you haven't read the new expanded, redesigned edition of How to Write a Nonfiction Book, you might want to check it out.

The books have arrived!

I am looking at a carton of books on my office floor—eight-five copies of Words To Live By—the culmination of six months of effort and the beginning of at least another six months of intense promotion. This slim little volume (only 124 pages) has consumed my thoughts and much of my time since last November when the idea first struck me. Just in case you are a new reader of "The Writing Life," I will explain my motivation for going through every stage of planning, writing, publishing, and promoting this book on my blog. Besides feeling that it was time to write a memoir of my career, I wanted to demonstrate that the six-step process I teach really does work.

So far, I have learned more about the stages of writing a book than I ever imagined possible, despite having written many other books in the past. Here are only a few of the most recent lessons:

1. Once I started, I became obsessed with writing. The book became of kind of "presence" that demanded every bit of the time and attention I would give it.
2. From the first page, it became obvious I needed an editor; there was no way this book would have been anything by a rambling recollection without the steadying influence of my sister, Judy.
3. Actually, I had four editors: Judy for content and style; Bobette for grammar and punctuation; Lois for final, microscopic copy editing; and Terry for one last look.
   
4. There were dozens of decisions to be made along the way. The most important was choosing a professional book designer, Peggy Nehmen, which was a smart and absolutely essential investment. (Having gone through this process I know I will never again attempt to "design" a book on my own.)
   
5. The road to self-publishing can feel like a confusing maze if you don't have a guidebook. I recommend Dan Poynter's The Self Publishing Manual, Peter Bowerman's The Well-Fed Publisher, and Mark Levine's The Fine Print of Self Publishing.
   
6. Choosing a printer, publisher, or author services company requires research. This is often a case of not knowing what you need to know until after the fact. I had chosen CreateSpace before I heard Mark Levine speak and bought his book. Other than a few glitches, so far I'm happy with the results.
   
7. Deciphering the instructions, links, and costs on a publisher's Web site almost drove me crazy. I registered for LightningSource but couldn't get through their layers of requirements. I finally gave up.
8. Self-publishing does not literally mean alone. It takes a team of "professional partners" to accomplish all of the phases of writing and publishing a book. I could never have done this without my fabulous team, which also included talented writers who were willing to read the manuscript and write testimonials.
   
9. What can I say about a printer's proof except read it several times, have it copy edited again, mark it up, make changes, upload a new file, and get another proof until it meets your standards. (Unfortunately, it will never be perfect, no matter how many times you read it .) I went through three or four proofs before I finally hit the button that said "Proof approved. Submit for publishing."

Of all of my books, I have to say this one has been the most personal and the most fun. It is also the most attractive, inside and out. I wrote it in less time than the the allotted six months. In fact at the end of six months, I held a published book in my hand. It is a small book—exactly the size I would advise a first-time author to write. I am excited about Words To Live By and very grateful to all of you who followed my progress since last November. Thank you providing the support every author needs to get through this process.