Edna Washington – What Every Author Must Know About Accounting

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Victor Volkman
On May 8, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with computer training and accounting expert Edna Washington of Washington Consultants, LLC.  We previously recorded Edna at the 2008 Motown Writer’s Conference but response was so great that we invited her on for a full 40 minutes of Q&A about business records, taxes, and structuring your company. Edna Washington is a workshop presenter and has over 15 years accounting and computer experience. We grilled her on a variety of common startup questions incuding:

  • Do I want to be a proprietor or a corporation?
  • How do I setup my business so it is properly recognized?
  • How can I amortize a large book printing over several years?
  • Do I need QuickBooks to manage by business?
  • What are 1099s and when do I give or receive them?
  • How can I draw money from the business?
  • What is the “home office” expense and can I claim it?
  • What types of deductions are commonly missed by authors?
 Edna Washington
Edna is the owner of Washington Consultants, LLC in Detroit, Michigan. She attended University of Missouri at St. Louis. Washington Consultants provides accounting and computer services to small businesses. They also offer computer skills training for youth and adults. Mrs. Washington also volunteers with youth organizations to help young people succeed in life. She believes in giving back to her community. She believes that our youth just need to be encouraged and shown that there is a world to be conquered

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Michelle Howe – Turn Web Browsers into Book Buyers

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Victor Volkman
On April 22nd, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with author and marketing guru Michelle Howe. A former university professor, Michelle consults with companies to assist them in effectively positioning their online marketing message to match their offline branding. Michelle clarified key points in our thinking including:

  • How website writing is different than offline (“brochure”) writing
  • How and why websites fail to gather leads, the importance of capture
  • How to make an impact in the first four seconds, before people click away and go elsewhere
  • Creating valuable content that keeps people coming back and builds rapport
  • New technologies for managing the conversation with your customers automatically
 Michelle How
Michelle Howe, MBA, owner of Internet Word Magic, is an expert in search engine optimized copywriting for websites and the author of the award winning book, Turn Browsers into Buyers: Secrets for Turning an Internet Profit.

She consults with companies to assist them in effectively positioning their online marketing message to match their offline branding. Her E-Mail Productivity System training is a customized training program that covers the issues of business writing, e-mail etiquette, e-mail security and the liabilities of e-mail.

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Lissa Warren – Get your book on the store’s front table

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Victor Volkman
On April 8th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author and publishing expert Lissa Warren on how to get your book into the sweet spot on those tables in the front of the bookstore. Lissa Warren has worked at several Boston publishing houses including David R. Godine, Houghton Mifflin, and Perseus Publishing, and is currently Vice President, Senior Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor at Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Specifically, we were seeking answers to the following questions:

  • Who chooses which books go on a store’s front table?
  • What can authors do to help get their books on the front table at a chain bookstore?
  • What are some of the different kinds of table space available at a chain bookstore?
  • What can authors do to help get their books on a front table at an independent bookstore?
  • What kind of media is likely to make a bookstore sit up and take notice?
  • Does it help if you stop by bookstores and autograph copies?
  • What about readings in bookstores—do you get better table space if you do them
 Lissa Warren
The author of The Savvy Author’s Guide to Book Publicity, she has spoken about publishing for the Virginia Festival of the Book, Lesley University , Publishers Marketing Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Publishers Association of the South, BookBuilders of Boston, ForeWord magazine, Grub Street, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, and the Adirondack Writer’s Conference, among others. Since 2003 she has been an Adjunct Professor at Emerson College —in their Writing, Literature, and Publishing program—and she also teaches in Boston University ‘s publishing certificate program. She serves on the advisory board to the MFA writing program at Southern New Hampshire University.Ms. Warren holds a B.S. in English Education from Miami University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Bennington College . Her poetry has appeared in Quarterly West, Oxford Magazine, Black Warrior Re
view, and Verse, and she’s a poetry editor for the literary magazine Post Road .

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Francine Silverman – Talk Radio Wants You!

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Victor Volkman
Imagine being able to sit down with a coffee and discuss with hundreds of radio hosts what their shows are about and what kind of guests they’d like to book. You can do just that with Francine Silverman’s new book Talk Radio Wants You: An Intimate Guide to 700 Shows and How to Get Invited.  I have paid $300 or more for talkradio show databases that had far less information than Francine presents in her highly-competivitely priced book.  Broken down into top-level categories, you can browse for shows in your genre, including Politics, Health & Fitness, Food, Sports, Self-Help, Women’s issues, and even Authors.  I would expect most people can find a dozen hot prospects for making their pitch in under half-an-hour, that is if you can stop yourself from endlessly browsing the fascinating entries!  Francine doesn’t stop with AM/FM, also incl
uded are Satellite radio and Podcasts, which can reach thousands of interested listeners you would never get from terrestrial radio.   Each entry includes critical info such as desired guests, host bio, and full contact info so you can tailor your pitch perfectly I can’t recommend this book strongly enough for any author who wants to get into this high-profile, low-cost method of marketing. Only a couple of downsides to mention:  if you’re looking for Gay & Lesbian, Military/Veteran, or Science-Fiction oriented shows you will not find enough listings to make it worthwhile.  Also, I feel like the “What is your guest from hell?” entries were a bit repetitive.  Everyone knows that hosts want an articulate, on-time, and well-spoken guest. If I know Francine, she will amend these in future editions. 

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Writer Watchdog – Helps writers bite into the marketplace

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Victor Volkman
Writer Watchdog has burst on to an already overcrowded self-publishing and author marketplace.  Why should we care?  Because it is jam-packed with resources and no-nonsense information that you would have to attend an entire publishing conference to get any other way.The most interesting part for me was the “Articles” section. If you follow the proven success strategies that these contributors provide, your product will be head-and-shoulders above the rest. The advice provided within is from industry experts who have already made all the mistakes and are trying to help you down the right publishing paths. Among other things, this book contains the only intelligent discussion of the pros and cons of buying your own ISBN ids that I have yet found.  I’m going to use Corey Blake’s article on loglines right now to write a backcover for an upcoming book. Without his simple outline, I would be adrift.  It’s that simple.Writer Watchdog 2009 has teething pains, just like any such ambitious project should have in its first outing.  Three things which will improve the 2010 edition:
1. An index
2. Alphabetize all resources
3. Fill in missing page numbers in the Table of Contents
But these are just minor nits and I guarantee you will find much more than your 20 bucks worth of value in between the covers.

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