Archive for Books
Unlocking The Secret in an Amazon Book Launch
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Book promotion coach and campaign manager Lynn Serafinn reflects on the Law of Attraction when her client, Luis Diaz’s book Memory in the Cells hits Number 1.
I learn so much every day of my life.
Let me set the context. Just a little over 24 hours ago, my fantastic client (and I really mean that), Luis Angel Diaz, launched his book Memory in the Cells: how to change behavioral patterns and release the pain body. The book, which was originally written in Spanish and has only now been translated into English, is about healing your emotions at the deepest level of your being. I first met Luis on the Ning networks, and have watched his work for the past few years. When he first approached me to be the campaign manager for his book, I knew that he already had cultivated a widespread, loyal audience in the Spanish-speaking world for decades, and that the release of this new translation of Memory in the Cells would be his first real introduction into the English-speaking audience at a global level.
Over the course of the past 5 months or so, I have been working closely with Luis and his team to create a wonderful promotional campaign that would reflect his personality, his values, and the true essence of what he does. That is really the fundamental principle behind all the promotional campaigns I co-create with my authors. My campaigns aren’t really about the book so much as they are about the author (and, yes, we create them together—that is absolutely vital). In this way, the campaign becomes something unique that cannot be duplicated by anyone else. It is my experience that when the heart and soul of the author is fully present within the core of the campaign, the campaign has a special sparkle to it that “magically” makes it work—even if it is a first-time, self-published author.
I call this approach “the path of least resistance to the Self” and it’s my fundamental principle to how I approach life. My core belief is that when we are truly and visibly authentic in the world, then all that is meant to flow into our lives comes to us with ease and grace.
“Ease” doesn’t mean we don’t WORK for it—heck no! Frankly, during these Amazon book launches, I have to block out 3 solid days because there is simply so much to do and so much promo copy to write that I’m pretty much “on call” 24 hours of the day during that time (I didn’t go to bed last night until 5am, and then I got up again at 9am). When I say “ease” I mean that the ideas are flowing, the energy is flowing and you just plain feel fantastic (even if you ARE in serious need of sleeping for about 12 hours straight after the launch is all over!).
Now, a lot of people might say that this sounds like the “Law of Attraction.” But the funny thing is, I never have used that term to describe my approach to life. In fact, I’ve pretty much shunned the term because I found the film version of The Secret to present things in a way I couldn’t really relate to. It all looked too simple—desire, believe, receive. I remember the scene in the film where the girl looks in the shop window at a very expensive necklace and it’s suddenly around her neck—well, I must confess it put me off the whole film because it seemed shallow to me (I do admit I have never read the book; I am told it is much better).
Well, what is so funny (or at least I think it is) is that yesterday I came face-to-face with The Secret, and I’m feeling like it’s a real test of my own power of intention!
Within a few short hours of the release of Memory in the Cells, it SHOT up like rocket to the #1 place in Canada in three categories including Mental and Spiritual Healing and New Age (which is a massive category, and VERY hard to get to #1). Luis’s book even surpassed authors like Louise Hay and Eckhart Tolle and so many others you would recognise. Moreover, it achieved an astonished rank of 14th of ALL books in Canada. That means, out of something like 2 million titles, his is the 14th bestseller of ALL of them in any category. It’s remarkable to say the least, and I am really feeling pretty pleased with myself today, especially as (as of this writing), the book is STILL holding strong to the #1 place.
Have a look at the illustrious company he is in:
And again #1 in New Age in Canada…
But here’s where The Secret comes in.
The book also got as high as #5 in the UK and a very impressive #3 in the US, and the rankings in the US were just a few books shy of the top 100 of all books, which is, frankly, astronomically good for ANY author, what to speak of a self-published (and first-time in English) author like Luis. But you know how it is… once you have a taste for #1 you want it all. I WANT his book to go to #1 in the US. Like a hawk I’ve been watching the rankings every hour and I see it creeping up 1 notch at a time… holding at #3 for hours and hours and hours…
So then I thought I’d take a look to see what’s sitting in front of him at #2.
Can you guess?
Yup. Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret!
Ironic, isn’t it? It is sitting there like a big giggling challenge for me, seeing if my desire for Luis’ success is powerful enough to “attract” that elusive #1 slot in the United States. It’s asking me, “How much do you really want this?” “How much to you really believe you will receive it?”
Ok, here’s my answer: Totally on both counts.
I REALLY want this for both Luis and myself:
- For Luis, I believe reaching that pinnacle in his genre would give a real push to his speaking platform in the United States, and worldwide.
- And for me, well, I just keep aiming to get higher and higher on each campaign I create because every time I push the boundary that much more, it brings in more energy and potential for my future clients and makes my business stronger. It’s also creating more abundance not only in my life, but also in the lives of others, because the more my business grows, the more people I hire to work on campaigns with me!
So right now, I actually have come to a completely different relationship with The Secret and the idea of “Law of Attraction”. I am viewing both as a wonderful opportunity for me to create a solution to my desire for Luis to move into the #1 slot on Amazon US today.
And so I wrote this article.
And seeing “obstacles” as not being obstacles at all, but rather as opportunities for creating new solutions to what we most desire in life is, I suspect, what “The Secret” really is, after all.
So, as I said, I learn so much every day. 
Let’s see what happens.
You can find Luis’ wonderful #1-selling book Memory in the Cells at http://memoryinthecells.com. And just to “attract” you to check it out, if you buy the book TODAY, you can receive over 30 free downloadable gifts from an array of international experts in many fields of personal development. I’m also offering my mini eCourse “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed.” I’ve received well over 100 requests for the download in just the past day. Certainly attracting something!
About Lynn Serafinn, Creator of Spirit Authors
Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced FOUR #1-selling book campaigns, and another #2-selling campaign, in 2010 alone. She created Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Contact Lynn about YOUR book project at at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog for regular book writing and promotion tips (just fill in form at right of your screen).
Sign up for Lynn’s bi-monthly newsletter Creative Spirit (fill in form below) packed with inspirational articles, broadcast guide to her radio show, and news about upcoming spiritual author book releases.
Throughout the year, Lynn also hosts large-scale telesummits with world-class speakers on a range of mind-body-spirit topics. Your subscription to Creative Spirit will ensure you’ll be the first to know how to attend these free events.
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Channelling and Writing – Interview with Author E.Dee Conrad
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Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 6 of the Virtual Blog Tour for A New Dawn Awaits by author E.Dee Conrad.
A New Dawn Awaits is a compassionate and inspiring channelled collection of short inspirational reflections, bringing together wisdom of the ages, showing us how to access knowledge that has been part of our consciousness, but has been dormant, for eons. E.Dee’s intention in writing this book is to help readers reach inwards into their divine essence and outwards to the energy that connects us as one humanity.
Yesterday, E.Dee visited Shelagh Jones’ Wheel of Life blog at http://ht.ly/2C1hN. For today’s stop on the tour, as so many of my readers are authors in the mind-body-spirit genre, I thought it would be interesting to interview E.Dee on the topic of what it is like to channel a book, as I think it can be both a tantalising and daunting idea for writers. I asked E.Dee four questions on the topic.
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Lynn: Can you tell us a little about your emotional journey of being “called” to write a channelled book?
E.Dee: I was 16 when I first realized I would write a book – but a “technical” one, not fiction, which somehow made it more possible in my mind. This realization lasted about 15 seconds and didn’t reappear for another 27 years! When it resurfaced, I was scared because it really pushed me out of my narrow comfort zone, but I was also excited because it felt like a project that would allow me to contribute to humanity on a scale I never thought possible.
Lynn: What advice can you give to writers who are curious to explore channelling but don’t know how to get started?
E.Dee: We all have the ability to channel and most of us do it on a regular basis – we just don’t realize it. It is easiest to “hear” what the universe or our higher selves are saying when our mind’s are clear and calm. The best way to calm your mind is to meditate. Personally, I prefer chanting meditations because they engage my brain and I find the sound vibrations to be very soothing and healing.
Lynn: How has writing a book of this nature changed your life?
I have become much more aware of my spiritual side and more focused on its development. Having read my book, I have tried to live by its suggestions, with a particular focus on becoming aware of my thoughts and thinking of others as I would like them think of me. This has shifted my life and brought more peace, harmony, joy and love into my life.
Lynn: Now that you have “transcribed” A New Dawn Awaits, do you have any desires to write a book you haven’t channelled?
No, I have absolutely no desire to write a book by traditional methods. When I channel a writing – be it a blog, article, or book – there is an amazing energy that flows through me. This energy is full of compassion and lightness and forms words. The reader also experiences this amazing energy because it is somehow embedded in and flows from the work.
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I hope you enjoyed this interview with E.Dee Conrad and that you’ll check out her book A New Dawn Awaits, which is coming to Amazon on Tuesday September 21, 2010. You can receive a collection of over 30 beautiful personal development gifts when you buy her book on the day of her launch, including one from me: a mini eCourse of my workshop “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed”.
In addition, E.Dee is hosting a very special FREE telesummit entitled “The Shift. The Message. The Transformation” on September 14th, 15th and 16th with nine of today’s most vibrant authors and speakers on the topic of the consciousness, transformation and the global “shift” occurring on our planet today. If you’d like to attend, all you have to do is request a “launch reminder” about the book, and you’ll receive all the information to attend. If you cannot make the live event, you can download the audio at your convenience.
To find out how to buy E.Dee’s book and receive these gifts,
including the FREE pass to the 3-day online telesummit, go to
http://spiritauthors.com/pages/edee/new-dawn-awaits-by-edee-conrad.html
AND you can read all about the telesummit and the guests at
http://virtualspiritualevents.com
For more insight into what tomorrow might bring in this era of the “great shift”, be sure to follow E.Dee tomorrow when the next stop on her Virtual Blog Tour is Tomar Levine’s blog at http://ht.ly/2uLKI
As usual, please do feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.
A Real Spirit Author – Caron Goode’s Book ‘Kids Who See Ghosts’
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Caron Goode, author of Kids Who See Ghosts
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that in addition to providing articles on writing and promoting your book, I also like to highlight mind-body-spirit authors of note who have new books I think would be inspirational and/or helpful to my readers. Today, I have to pleasure of sharing an interview I did with award-winning author (and member of the Virtual Faculty here on Spirit Authors) Dr Caron Goode about her new book ‘Kids Who See Ghosts’, which is coming to Amazon on Tuesday June 8, 2010. To find out how to buy the book ‘Kids Who See Ghosts’and receive free personal development gifts on June 8, 2010, go to: http://www.kidswhoseeghosts.com
This interview is Day 4 of a 2-week Virtual Blog Tour for this unique new title. Check out yesterday’s stop at the ‘Intuitive Parenting’ blog at http://intuitiveparenting.wordpress.com/
Lynn: Hi Caron. My audience are all ‘Spirit Authors’. What’s your personal definition (or definitions) of the word ’spirit’?
Caron: I feel spirit is the loving intelligent energy within and without. In the book Kids Who See Ghosts, we use the term ’spirit walker’ to refer to those ‘persons’ who walk in spirit, as physical walkers refer to those of us still in body.
In the field of spirituality, metaphysics, paranormal, and higher consciousness, people whom I interviewed for the book commented to me that that the term ‘ghosts’ was distasteful to them. Yet the public knows the term through the media that pumps the word into our psyches. So spirit, spirit walker, ghosts all refer to those souls or person in the spirit world.
Lynn: What are the reasons why you wrote Kids Who See Ghosts?
Caron: After I posted a blog article about the television debut of Psychic Kids on the A & E channel in the United States, the web site was flooded with tens of thousands of requests for help and information from parents whose kids were seeing ghosts. Some parents wanted to know how to protect their child, how to handle their kids’ fears, whether or not to seek medical assistance. Others felt their children demonstrated intuitive gifts.. Still others needed information as to appropriate age ranges for having imaginary friends or how to handle teens who still had some “ghostly” acquaintances.
Over time, the questions were the same, and each situation was unique, requiring time to respond and gather information. The next logical step was the book.
The timing was perfect to interview parents, psychologists, skeptics, shamans, and psychics and find out what the temperature was on the topic; and boy, it ranged from icy to sizzling hot.
The most important reason for writing the book was because I couldn’t fathom that a child would be unable to sleep in their bedroom because something so frightened the core of their being. And, if they were afraid of their world as a child, would they still be fearful as an adult.
Lynn: Is this book just about “ghosts”? What other answers will people find in your book?
Caron: Kids Who See Ghosts is a guide to help parents empower their children by moving them through theirs fears and to have success in befriending, helping, conquering, or loving their ghosts.
The true answers as to why children see ghosts, how they experience their world of spirit walkers, and how a shift in brain-wave frequency or perception can open or close that door. What would happen if kids learned to shift their moods and control those images?
Lynn: How does your book Kids Who See Ghosts speak to our innermost spiritual selves?
Caron: What is inside your deepest spiritual self? We know that the human eyes see light, and only a sliver of the entire light spectrum at best. Each human brain, as a transmitter and receiver of energy, determines the images. So why do some eyes see demons and scary figures of death while others’ eyes see angels or light?
Kids Who See Ghosts gives people pause to question the ghost phenomenon, and ask what it portends for our endless curiosity about the extraordinary. Is it a distraction from our spiritual essence, only the doorway for the curious, a trend destined to open the human mind to deeper intuition or involution?
Lynn: From an author’s perspective, what is unique about how you wrote the book?
Caron: Unique for me was not taking a cognitive approach, thinking about the content, the proposal, worrying about the topic being too far out for my field, expertise, and professional reputation. For the two books, Raising Intuitive Children and Kids Who See Ghosts, I felt a strong intuitive pull that the time was now. I sat down immediately to write the Kids Who See Ghosts book proposal, sent it to the agent, and the publisher loved the idea. I followed my intuition as a purposeful guide for how to write, manage and complete this book.
Lynn: What can aspiring authors learn about how you wrote it?
Caron: This was a new experience to interview twenty people, from professionals who work with kids, to parents, and skeptics and psychics, and weave a sellable story of such diverse themes. The themes that eventually emerged was listen to children, do not judge ghost experiences, do not the put down or judge the kids who have them. The caretaking of the children was a theme of all those interviewed, even the skeptic. My motto became, “You don’t have to believe in ghosts, just believe in and respect your children.
I hope you enjoyed this article with author Caron Goode. If you want to hop on the Virtual Blog Tour with us, follow Caron tomorrow on the Kids Who See Ghosts Virtual Blog Tour Day 5 at author Glenn M Smith’s ‘Sensitive Self Help’ blog at http://sensitivesselfhelp.com
AND… be sure to sign up for the book launch reminder so you can buy Kids Who See Ghosts and receive free personal development gifts on June 8, 2010. To register, go to: http://www.kidswhoseeghosts.com (if you are reading this article after that date, you may buy the book directly from that page).
About author Caron Goode
Caron Goode is an award-winning author, health psychologist and medical intuitive. She helps parents and families through her writing, coaching and teaching, and by training parent coaches. She is also the Founder of Academy for Coaching Parents International. Caron is also a member of the Spirit Authors Virtual Faculty and frequently attends our bi-monthly ‘members only’ calls and our member forum. Taking Spirit Authors for a test drive is a great way to get to know Caron and our other Virtual Faculty members.
About Lynn Serafinn, Creator of Spirit Authors
Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced two #1-selling book campaigns, and another #2-selling campaign, in just the past 4 months. She created Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. She’s also in Round 2 of the Next Top Spiritual Author contest! To check out Lynn’s video entry, brand new book proposal and read 80 pages from her book The Garden of the Soul, go to http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=2016. A free gift awaits you when you cast your vote.
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Reflections on Next Top Spiritual Author Contest Round 1
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In a previous post, I told you about the Next Top Spirit Author Contest in which I am a contestant. The contest is open to unpublished or self-published authors. Authors did not need to have completed (or even started) their book to enter. I entered my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, which I self-published just a little over a year ago. My hope is to take it to a much wider audience, and also to get some backing for the follow-up I am currently writing, A Practical Guide to the Garden of the Soul, which contains 80 practical lessons for cultivating the four principles in The Garden of the Soul.
Today (Monday May 3rd) marks the final day of Round 1. Since the contest opened to the public vote on March 29th, tens of thousands of people have voted for their favourites amongst more than 3000 entries. Now the field is going to be narrowed down to 250 who will advance to Round 2, based primarily upon their public vote, as well as a small challenge the authors were given to do.
Round 2 will be a bit different because the 250 Round 2 authors will then construct a book proposal for their book, which will go under the scrutiny of Hampton Roads publishers, who are offering the Grand Prize in the contest– a pretty nifty publishing contract. A portion of the points in Round 2 will once again come from the public vote.
So by Tuesday, thousands of authors and authors-to-be, including myself, will find out whether or not we will advance to the next phase of this competition. I can feel the energy getting really “buzzy” amongst the authors these past few days.
Although this is only Round 1, the contest has already been quite a journey. For many, the very act of creating an audio or video “pitch” was a major achievement. For others, it was the challenge of stepping out of their comfort zone to ask people to vote for them. Speaking for myself, if nothing else happens as a result of having entered this competition, I am grateful for two things: 1) being put under a deadline to make a new book trailer (I am SO pleased with how it turned out and it is getting a lot of hits on YouTube) and 2) meeting dozens of great new authors who are now connected with me on Facebook and Twitter. Both of these are great gifts in their own right.
In some ways, Round 1 has been a bit like being in the auditions for the X-Factor (our UK equivalent of “American Idol”). Behind the scenes, we have a “share” page on the contest site that is sort of our equivalent of “The X-Factor House”, where everyone hangs out together and learns the idiosyncrasies of the others. It’s really interesting to watch and interact with all the fascinating personalities there. And just like The X-Factor, while there is a lot of love and connection amongst the contestants, there is also the underlying knowledge that this is, after all, a competition, and people will be voted off, bit by bit. It could happen to any one of us. That’s the nature of any competition, and it is vital for all of us to know how to “be with” the competitive process, without allowing it to affect our sense of Self and inner determination.
When I was a young musician, I took every defeat in competitive scenarios as a blow against my self-worth. Because I grew to fear judgment and rejection, I became afraid to take risks for many years, and thus I limited my creative growth and personal empowerment for a very long time.
But these days I approach such challenges quite differently. I apply my whole self to the task, and allow myself to take the risk of being “rejected”. These days, I feel the most important thing in life is to have the self-knowledge that I did not hold myself back from applying myself fully, and that I did the absolute best I could at that particular moment.
While taking this approach to a competition (and life in general) does not ensure we will “win” a specific reward, I do believe when we are fully ready to step into both the risks and responsibilities involved in the act of succeeding, we will win the award, the title, the prize, the praise, the gift– or the learning– we are meant to receive. If you do not hold yourself back from the Universe, it will hold nothing back from you.
As far as I am concerned, the fact that everyone in the contest has stepped up to the plate and “pitched” their vision to the world makes them all winners, already on the pathway to their own dreams.
I wish all the spiritual authors in the contest the very best of luck.
If you have voted for me already, I’d like to thank you warmly for your support. And if you haven’t had a chance to yet, it would be great if you took a few minutes to do this before the end of the day today (Monday). Here’s how:
- Go to http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=2016 and watch my video entry.
- Register to vote; they will send you a confirmation email before you actually can vote.
- Check your email for the confirmation email, and click on the confirmation link
- Go back to http://www.nexttopauthor.com/profile.cfm?aid=2016 and vote for me (you can also vote for other authors by doing a search).
As my thank you gift to everyone who votes for me, you can pick up 4 audiobook excerpts from the book. That’s over 1 hour of fr*ee audio. You’ll see the link to the gift right after you have voted.
If you are on the social networks, it would be great if you clicked the big Twitter or Facebook buttons on my page and shared them with your friends.
Thanks everyone!
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Interview with Author, Publisher, Vrinda Pendred on New OCD book ‘Check Mates’
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Vrinda Pendred
If you follow my weekly radio show on Blog Talk Radio, you know I open every episode by saying it explores “personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being.” While I believe all of my guests are “heroes” in their own right, never have I been more filled with emotion to introduce the hero of the show I hosted this past Wednesday, April 28.
Why? Because the guest was my own daughter, Vrinda Pendred, author and founding Director/Editor of Conditional Publications, a new independent publisher dedicated solely to publishing the works of authors with neurological conditions. Their first book ‘Check Mates’ comes out on May 11, 2010, and it is nothing short of groundbreaking. What makes Check Mates so special is that it is a collection of short fiction and poetry either about or inspired by the struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, all written by people with OCD. Whether solidly real, allegorical, or completely fictionalised, all the compelling work contained in this collection portrays the true story of this greatly misunderstood condition.
It is also the first ever book of fiction written entirely by OCD authors—including Vrinda herself.
This interview is stop number 6 on Vrinda’s 14-day Virtual Blog Tour to promote the launch of Check Mates. Yesterday Vrinda stopped by the blog of Yvonne Perry from Writers in the Sky. If you happened to miss that stop, just click here.
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Listen to the interview:
OR if you cannot view the player, CLICK HERE to download the MP3:
In our interview together on April 28, Vrinda started out by describing the struggles she faced as a child growing up with neurological disorders.
She was first diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at age 7, but doctors did little to educate her, her parents or her teachers about the disorder. She describes the frustration of not being able to explain what compelled her to think and do the things she did, and how this impacted her childhood experiences and emotions. For years, she pretty much kept the reality of having Tourette’s hidden from her friends, but she finally had a breakthrough when the topic of Tourette’s came up in a discussion in a science class at school when she was 13 years old. She described how learning more about her condition was a “stunning” revelation, and how it released her from the feeling she needed to hide her condition from the world.
Wanting to understand her condition, Vrinda requested to go back to the doctor to find out more. It was then that a new neurologist finally diagnosed Vrinda with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Vrinda, now 27 years old and extremely knowledgeable about both Tourette’s and OCD, said she finds it “shocking” she was not diagnosed with OCD by the paediatric neurologist when she was 7 years old, as “half the stuff you brought me to the doctor for [at age 7] was actually OCD, and not Tourette’s at all.”
Vrinda explained that OCD, Tourette’s, autism, bipolar disorder and other neurological conditions are genetic in nature, but the way they manifest in a person are “completely founded in your own emotional experiences in life.” Vrinda and I discussed how her diagnosis opened up my own understanding about my own frustrations as a child because my father (Vrinda’s grandfather) had OCD, although it was never diagnosed when he was alive. Vrinda gave some pretty humorous examples of her grandfather’s OCD behaviour in a way that only a fellow OCD person could recognise.
I asked Vrinda about the freedom she has found from learning about her diagnosis. She described how most of her life she had suffered from the terrors of intrusive thoughts, and when she found a name for what she was experiencing, and realised that other people experienced the same thing, she stopped feeling “crazy” and alone. She said, “Once it had a name, it seemed so much smaller. As soon as I could box it and put a name on it I said, ‘Ok, this is the OCD—and I am more than it.”
Vrinda discussed how Cognitive Behavioural Therapy has successfully helped her with many of her obsessions, by enabled her to learn how to allow her anxieties to pass without acting upon them. She said, however, that “intrusive thoughts” were frequently much more difficult to overcome and she is still challenged by many of them.
Vrinda discussed how important it was for parents to “educate” teachers about how OCD impacts the child’s behaviour and performance at school. She gave an example of how helpful it was when one compassionate teacher allowed her to take an exam in his private office so she would not be challenged by her OCD by being in a distracting environment.
Vrinda went on to talk about her book Check Mates. She explained that the title “Check Mates” refers to the tendency for people with OCD to “check” things, and also because it is a collection of stories by people who have now become good friends (“mates”). The 20 authors of this book all met each other on a social network called “OCD Tribe” (http://ocdtribe.com). Vrinda said it was “indescribable” and “life-changing” to find a “tribe” of people who all shared the same condition.
She explained that what makes Check Mates unique amongst other books is that it is not a “self-help” book, but rather a book of fiction by OCD authors. She said she felt fiction was “more powerful” than an autobiography in this case, as readers who do not have OCD would be able to see something of themselves within the stories as well.
She explained how the stories in the book shed light on the wide range of the types of obsessions people with OCD have, such as fear of death, post-partum OCD, pre-occupation with religion, compulsive cleaning, self-harming, hoarding, counting rituals, checking, etc. “We wanted to show that OCD is a very complex thing. When you see it on television, they only ever focus on one or two problems that seem really extreme. They certainly don’t ever talk about the thoughts, or ‘pure obsessional OCD’ (obsessive ruminations), which in my view is the most debilitating problem.”
If you or a family member has OCD, or any neurological condition, you definitely will want to check out Check Mates when it comes out on Tuesday May 11.
You can do this by heading over to: http://conditionalpublications.com/pages/check-mates-launch.html
When you are there, be sure to sign up for a “launch reminder” so you can receive over 30 free personal development gifts when you buy the book on the day of its launch. Amongst the gifts are a free short story on Tourette Syndrome from Vrinda, and a free mini-course from me called “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed.” Just click HERE to read more about the book and the 30 free gifts (if you are reading this article after that date, you may buy the book directly from that page).
I should also mention that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every single book goes to OCD charities, so when you buy it, YOU are also making a difference.
Being Vrinda’s mom makes me understand what they mean by the term “pride and joy.”
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Be sure to follow Vrinda to her next Virtual Blog Tour stop on Sunday May 2nd, hosted by Geoff Laughton at http://geofflaughton.com/gltc/blog/.
AND… don’t forget to sign up for the book launch reminder so you can buy ‘Check Mates’ and over 30 free personal development gifts on May 11, 2010. Just go to http://conditionalpublications.com/pages/check-mates-launch.html
Your Book Marketing Plan – Who Should You Be Promoting To?
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Great tips from guest blogger and Virtual Faculty member Dana Lynn Smith, “The Savvy Book Marketer”
As you write your book and develop your book marketing plan, one of the first priorities is to define your target audiences.
The primary target audience for your book is the “ideal reader” that the book was written specifically for. In your book marketing plan, define the characteristics of your ideal reader, asking questions such as these:
- What is their age range, gender, and education level?
- Where do they live?
- What is their family status – single, married with kids, retired couple?
- What is their income level and occupation?
- What are their interests and hobbies?
- What makes this person the ideal reader for your book?
- What are their book buying habits?
In addition to the ideal reader, most books have several secondary audiences. Your book marketing plan should include strategies for reaching audiences such as these:
Readers – people who buy the book to read. This is the most obvious category and it includes your primary audience as well as secondary audiences who have an interest in your topic or genre.
Purchasers – people who buy the book for someone else. For example, people buy books as gifts, parents and grandparents purchase books for children, women buy men’s health books, companies and organizations purchase books to give away as gifts and premiums. Who would be likely to purchase your book for someone else, and how can you reach those folks?
Retailers – companies who buy your book to sell it to others. If you’re selling through physical bookstores or other retailers, you have the task of convincing these resellers that your book will sell in their stores and demonstrating how you can help generate demand.
Influencers – people who communicate with your target customers and can let them know about your book. The influencers may be the most important category of all, especially in online marketing and social media. Think about how much you can multiply your marketing efforts when other people spread the word to their own readers, customers, and networks.
Your book marketing plan should outline specific tactics for reaching influencers, including print, broadcast and online media. You can reach the media through traditional publicity efforts as well as online press releases and article distribution.
Other important influencers include authors, consultants, and bloggers who cater to your target customers. These folks can mention you, your website, and/or your book in several ways, including blog posts, links, Twittering, ezine articles, and media sharing tools like Digg.
Here are some tips on working with influencers:
- Search the Internet to compile a list of the top websites, blogs, ezines, magazines, newsletters, online forums, books, ebooks, clubs, and association that cater to your target market or cover your topic.
- Study each site to get a good understanding of what they do and how it relates to your book, and look for possible promotional opportunities.
- Write a thoughtful, customized email or letter sincerely complimenting the prospect about their site, publication, or organization, and suggesting some specific ways that you might work together to your mutual benefit.
It’s also important to read the top blogs and online forums on your list and look for opportunities to make useful comments about posts. When commenting, include a short signature such as “John Smith, author of How to Grow Roses.” See this article for tips on how you can subtly promote your book by commenting on blogs.
How can you enhance your book marketing plan with strategies for promoting to all of your target audiences?
Dana Lynn Smith is a book marketing coach and author of the Savvy Book Marketer Guides. For more tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter, visit Dana’s book marketing blog and get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips ebook when you sign up for her free book marketing newsletter. She in a member of the Virtual Faculty here at Spirit Authors. Click HERE to download 5 free podcasts from Spirit Authors, where you can hear Dana speaking on “Pre-Publication Marketing Musts.”
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A Rising New Star in the Spirit Author Universe
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Patrick Ryan’s New Book Number-1 in Spirituality
Recently I’ve been telling you about a new book called Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance by my friend and colleague Patrick Ryan. Well the book had its official Amazon launch yesterday, and I simply had to write to you to tell you that within the first few hours, Awakened Wisdom became a bestseller in spirituality in both the US and Canada.
Most impressively, the book reached an amazing rank of 29th in overall books, out of many millions, and took the Number-1 slot in Canadian spirituality sales (click to see a screen shot), and the #3 slot in self-help, sharing the very same page on Amazon with top-selling spirituality titles such as Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements, Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love. At one point, Patrick and Eckhart were dancing back and forth in the top 5 spots on the Canadian list, which is interesting because so many people have compared these two writers even before the book was released.
In the US, where the competition is even steeper, the book reached the Number-2 rank in Kindle spiritual self-help titles, and the paperback was the 18th most popular spiritual title yesterday. I have high hopes that today, that figure will soar up later today, as news of the success of the book starts to spread.
Not too shabby for a first day, don’t you think?
Born in the Canadian prairies, and surviving a near-death experience in his youth, Patrick Ryan has been a life-long spiritual seeker. He spent some time as a Buddhist monk in Burma, and has studied the world over with healers, shamans and other indigenous wise people. The culmination of his multifaceted experiences, from the home-spun to the esoteric, is to be found within his unique, and inimitably down-to-earth, system of spiritual development he calls “Awakened Wisdom”, which he has taught in workshops throughout the world for several years. The essence of those teachings, along with practical exercises for cultivating them in your life, may now be found within the pages of his newly bestselling book.
I should also mention that I consider Patrick to be one of my personal mentors. I studied with him for nearly a year on the Co-Active Leadership programme, and I also took his internationally acclaimed Awakened Wisdom course. I can say without any reservation that my life would not be where it is today had our paths not crossed. I was my great delight and pleasure to be able to give something back to him by acting as his campaign manager for this thrilling Amazon book launch.
The Awakened Wisdom launch continues today and tomorrow, and in celebration of its official release, Patrick Ryan and a group of his colleauges, including authors, coaches, entrepreneurs and spiritual teachers are giving away over 40 exceptional personal development and spiritual growth gifts when you purchase a copy the book during the launch.
One of these gifts is an unprecedented 2-session “Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience”, in which author Patrick Ryan will take participants on a journey through the “8 States of an Awakened Life” via webcast in May. This is a rare opportunity to learn directly from a world-renowned spiritual teacher—and now top-selling spirituality author.
I myself am offering four never-before-offered audio meditations from my Garden of the Soul Workshop, on the Four Principles of Give, Receive, Become and Be.
To pick up your copy of the Awakened Wisdom, get all those free gifts, and sign up for this very special event, which is open ONLY to those who purchase the book this week, go to:
http://www.awakenedwisdom.com/Public/Amazon/BookLaunch/index.cfm
Make sure you do this as soon as possible, as the launch ends this Friday, April 23 (extended from April 22). And if you are reading this AFTER that date, you can still find out how to buy the book by clicking the link above.
Thanks for your support in helping this rising new star in the spiritul author universe shine so brightly! I wish ALL of you Spirit Authors reading this a future where YOU are shining even more brightly.
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Rare Chance to Learn from World-Class Spiritual Author via Web
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I might not know you, but my guess is that you probably have two things in common with everyone else who is reading this blog:
1. You hold personal spirituality to be amongst your top priorities in life AND
2. You love to write and/or read great spiritual books
Well, knowing that about you, I am writing to you to suggest you mark your diary for THIS TUESDAY APRIL 20TH. That’s the BIG day for the launch of Patrick Ryan’s book Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance.
What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that everyone who buys this important book on the DAY of the launch (this Tuesday, April 20th) can sign up to attend a 2-session “Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience” with Patrick himself, where he PERSONALLY will guide you through the “8 States of an Awakened Life”, which are the cornerstone of all his world-famous work.
Oooh… I should mention that I will be hosting that event! How lucky am I, huh?
The Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience will be on May 5-6, via webcast. That means you can attend EITHER via the web or via telephone. There’ll also be some opportunity to ask Patrick your questions about his teachings.
If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry. The audio will be available for download BUT only to those who register for the VIP pass.
In addition to the Virtual Experience, there are over 30 of us who are giving away some FABULOUS free spiritual gifts to you when you buy Patrick’s book. I’m giving away 4 audio meditations from my Garden of the Soul Workshop. I have NEVER offered these before (in fact, I just finished recording them tonight!).
I URGE you to go over to Awakened Wisdom Book Launch Page tonight and sign up for a “launch reminder”. That way, on Tuesday morning, when the gifts are ready, we’ll send you a “go and get them” reminder, so you can buy the book and get all the cool gifts, including the VIP Pass to the Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience.
Patrick is one of my personal mentors AND he is also my client, as I am the campaign manager for his book launch. Let me tell you, I am DETERMINED to get his book to the number-1 spirituality slot on Amazon on Tuesday. Why? Because I think he totally deserves it! First of all, his work is surely world-class, and I want to see his message spread all over the planet. Secondly, I studied with Patrick for over a year, and now that I’ve also had the great pleasure to work with him at a professional level as well, I can assure you he’s not only an amazingly spiritual teacher, but also a truly down-to-earth human being.
Thanks everyone! Hope to “see” you at the Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience on May 5 – 6.
Warm wishes,
Lynn
P.S.: On a slightly different note, if you haven’t had a chance yet to vote for me in the Next Top Spiritual Author Contest, it would mean SO much to me if you would. The voting for Round 1 goes only for another 2 weeks. Right now I’m in the top 5%, but anything can happen with the public vote. Please remember that you can vote for as many authors as you like in the competition, but you can only vote ONCE for an author per round. It would be great if you checked out my video and cast you vote. There’s also a free gift there for you: 4 audio excerpts from my book, The Garden of the Soul (not the same audio as I am offering with Patrick’s book). Hope you enjoy them! The link to my profile page in the contest is http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=2016, Thanks so much!
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Vote for Lynn Serafinn Next TOP Spiritual Author
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Please check out the video I made as my “pitch” for the “Next Top Spiritual Author” contest. I have entered my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, which as many of you know, is currently self-published.
The grand prize is a book contract from Hampton Roads Publishing, one of the top Body-Mind-Spirit publishers in the world, along with a promotional package worth over $50,000.
There are 3 rounds of voting. The first round starts MONDAY March 29, 2010, and ends April 25, 2010. I could REALLY use your vote to help me advance to Round 2.
Here’s the video podcast I made for my contest entry. I poured my heart and soul into it!
And here’s the same video as it appears on YouTube. I’m putting both versions because sometimes people have trouble viewing certain video formats. If you cannot see EITHER of these videos on your screen (or you wish to see it in a LARGER window), view it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8P92UVYwCQ.
If you think The Garden of the Soul deserves to go to a wider audience, please help me by:
1) Watching this video to help you decide whether you think I deserve to win the title Next Top Spiritual Author AND THEN
2) Voting for me at http://tinyurl.com/TopAuthorLynn between March 29 – May 3 (the page will not be live before the 29th).
And there is NO pressure to choose only one author to win this contest! There are hundreds of great authors for you to consider, and you can vote for as many authors as you like (but you can only vote ONCE for each author per round).
I you can help me advance to Round 2 of this exciting competition, I will be EXTREMELY grateful!
My motivation is fuelled by your encouragement and comments. I’d love to hear what you have to say about the video, my book and whatever else, in the comments box below.
Thank you everyone!
Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
P.S.: If YOU are a spiritual author, EVEN IF you are just in the very beginning of wanting to START your book project, YOU should enter this wonderful contest. Unpublished and self-published authors are invited AND they give you lots of help to develop your “pitch” if you don’t know how to do it yourself. Check out the Next Top Spiritual Contest and ENTER NOW at http://www.nexttopauthor.com/index.cfm. It’s going to be a fabulous journey, and I hope will take advantage of it.
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Living life is often like navigating oneself around a hall of mirrors... Reflecting a myriad of our inner qualities. Some mirrors show us a distorted vision of ourselves, we are ugly, fat, unhealthy and unlovable and some mirrors reflect our beauty, wisdom, kindness and compassion. Lynn Serafinn offered me a picture of clarity, strength, commitment, deep knowledge and vast generosity. She literally showed me how to reach up out of my pit and grasp my own power. I've had so many ideas kicking about in my head, but never had the bottle to put them 'out there' before. The mirror Lynn reflects is one of pure self empowerment and I would recommend anyone to gaze into her reflection.
Lynn recently came onto my radar while I was working with Allison Maslan. I was immediately drawn to her and wanted to promote her on Girlfriend Mentors. In our conversation to set up an interview with her I shared that I was using my blog danceofabeautifulwoman.com as a way to create and write my book.
I have been very stop and go with this as I am involved in so many other projects, but within minutes of mentioning it to her, I realized I was now in a coaching session! Lynn is such a natural coach that the conversation turned so easily to what I needed in order to make my book a reality. I feel so empowered to move forward and see it happen and she created a space for me to commit a date for the first draft.
When we were finished I told her two things: "I feel like I need to write a check!" and that she is "NEATO!" I've decided she is actually SUPER DUPER NEATO! Thanks Lynn - it was nuch more than I asked for!
Lynn's workshop on Spiritual Marketing made me realise how pervasive the conventional fear-based marketing paradigm is and how simple it is to create an alternative based on creativity and cooperation.
